And there are only so many miliseconds you have before capturing 'the moment' - my thoughts should first go to preserving highlight detail than avoiding dark noise.
Whilst charts and graphs provide valuable insights, you have hit the nail on the head re preserving highlight detail - that's what a properly calibrated incident meter (colorchecker) to your choice of RAW converter can offer. Little need for 1 degree spot metering and calculations which are not always an option anyway.
Another method for fast, accurate metering, is to use the cameras metering system (manual exposures) on a nearby surface that doesn't require the narrow angle of a spot meter, provided the surface is under the same lighting as the subject. This method is useful when there is little time to pick up an incident meter, or waving one around in the air might disturb sensitive subjects - golf.
Method
Take an incident reading early on (and occasionally throughout the day when locations/lighting direction and intensity changes), apply the shutter speed and aperture indicated by the incident meter to the camera, noting where the cameras metering diode indicator settles on its exposure scale - from now on use the cameras metering system to mimic the results from the incident light meter.
For a large surface such as grass it doesn't matter which camera metering pattern is used. On grass the cameras meter will often differ from the incident reading - invariably indicating 1/3 - 2/3 rds of a stop under exposed compared to the incident reading - often depends on which way the grass has been mown!
If the light suddenly changes and there is no opportunity to use the light meter, use the cameras meter, adjusting the shutter speed or aperture so the cameras metering diode is returned to the same spot on its exposure scale as initially observed from transferring the incident metering exposure to camera - it could be over or underexposure depending on the surface measured in relation to the initial incident reading used for reference purposes.
In the UK light levels often change very quickly, this system has enabled me to quickly obtain the correct exposure (ETTR) from full sunlight to heavily diffused sunlight seconds prior to sporting moments. It is obviously useless for some sporting scenarios - e.g. rugby player crossing over from sunlight into full shade from sharp shadows cast by the spectators stand.