Yancey, It seems obvious that the roll out distance would be in the range you ascribed to Mr. Jones' era. However, the issue in these modern days is carry distance. Not just the driver, either.
The capability of prolific aerial assault, has likely always been the sign of the so called better player. Especially so today. However, there's more than this one aspect to the game of golf, or, more correctly, there should be more than one way to exhibit golfing skills. The shot maker has been lost, or re-defined to a limited ball flight, trajectory and audience.
The imbalance that has occurred, from the over-irrigation of the canvas, virtually gearing the game to just the aerial assault player, is the imbalance that needs to be corrected.
There's been recent talk about getting down with a little brown, but from this seat, it appears to be just talk. Save for the very few clubs who value a truly firm and fast turf, as a general rule, day in day out, as long as it doesn't rain.
So no, we should continue to be concerned about the distance the ball travels, especially if there's no proportional penalty for the non thinking way layer.
The lack of interest in the sport can be directly related to this imbalance, imo. Why? Because it's a lot less fun with out the bounce and roll and a lot more repetitive with the plop plop fizz fizz of daily aerial assault on a consistently soft field of play.