Are there any situations where having high lift but low lift to drag ratio would be beneficial?
Landing phase would benefit from high lift but low lift-to-drag ratio. At most phase of flight you need about the same amount of lift to keep the plane in the air. However during landing you need to slow down to landing speed. Hence you lower lift-to-drag ratio by keep the same amount of lift but increase amount of drag. This is usually accomplish by selection of large amount of flaps.