People talk a lot about bifurcation as a solution, and maybe it could work, but I’ve heard very little detail on how all these scenarios would play out. It would open a huge can of worms at various competitive levels of the game. And I also think it would put aspiring pros/collegiate players at a big disadvantage.
On top of that, who is compensating the golf ball companies for the R&D and inventory levels? It’s not easy managing a supply chain these days!
I really don’t think its a solution at all. Sure, scores might be closer to par, but the players who had the advantage before will still have their advantages, it’ll just be from different positions. I think the negatives you mentioned are far more certain. Reassess the limits on equipment if they want, but the benchmark of those limits is the performance today, not 20-30 years ago which would be ridiculous. Really smart people are still going to have jobs in figuring out how to get the most within the absolute edge of those limits. Besides that, if certain tournaments don’t want to see 350+ yard drives on classic courses not designed for that kind of distance, then just make 350 yard landing zones OB for the tournament.
In response to the point about college players, I don’t think it’s such an issue any more because of how well they all use launch monitors. Look at the tour players when they go to Mexico city or when Rory went to Switzerland last year.
They just need 1 range session to re-do all their numbers and away they go.
I understand there would be additional issues with spin rates and whatever else, but I don’t think the top college players would have a problem adjusting to a tour ball within a few days.
In saying that, I totally understand where you’re coming from in regards to just how far the game has come.
Think the same as Bigdadenergy. Having equipment dialed back, I think, would make some of the events where amateurs are playing. Do they then have to use the dialed back equipment or do they still get to use their normal equipment? And then how long is the transition to using dialed back equipment when turning pro. The young guys breaking out on tour would take longer and I think that just hurts the game as well.
There are a lot of inherent problems with dialing back the equipment. In reality, it’s not just the equipment, but also - everything else - instruction, big time analysis of stats, shot link (every shot that every pro took in an event over 10 or 15 year in a database??) The application of all of this to gain an edge and make some money is the full story.
They can limit everything with the ball. Who doesn’t want sexy state-of-the-art equipment?! The ball can be dialed back, they did that in baseball. For a few years they had the balls “juiced” (and the players too, 
) but they dialed them back.
Then again, maybe the answer is to shorten everything up and make them use more “precision!”
I wonder if the PGA can make sand traps a little more penalizing which could be an easy solution by also playing them at the appropriate distance. It seems to me that when pro’s feel like a greenside sand hazard is an ok outcome it’s not much of a hazard and I think that’s partially true for fairway bunkers as well.
As a side note, there is a lot of talk how modern drivers have changed the game but I also think wedge technology has also evolved a lot since I started golfing in the 80’s.
For sure! Pros are what percentage of all golfers?
Less than 1%, but I know your question was rhetorical. However, someone else might not know and more they do. Hahahaha
Interesting side note, anyone at any skill level can declare themselves “professional”. All it does is mean you can officially play for and win cash prizes (or non-cash prizes above the $750 limit for amateurs). You also don’t officially keep a handicap and have to go through a process to get you amateur status back.
For tour pros, roughly 150 players have status for each of the top tier tours, then you’ll have a few thousand more or less “full time” players trying to scrap it out on recognized mini-tours.
For PGA certified golf professionals (like teaching pros and course pros) there are around 27,000 currently.
I know the question was probably rhetorical, but I wanted to answer anyways 
Yep, he was unbelievably good from a variety of distances and had a gritty short game all week