I am not surprised at the distances at all.
Go to any high school tournament and there are more than a few hitting it 300 plus. Yeah, some are right or left.
Go to a college tournament and you might see half the team doing the 3-0-0 drive.
It has been going on for a while really, so no surprise really.
As the local PGA pro recruiting for a Div 1 team says, he can help those hitting long drives way right or left, help with their short game, putting, strategy, and confidence. It is really difficult to teach someone to hit it longer once they are 18.
Bottomline, they will recruit someone with a higher average score, hitting it a ton, over his shorter, better average score brother.
And if you are a football school, sponsored by adidas/taylormade, coach will have a barrel full of drivers with all the shafts, heads, etc. that you can imagine. I imagine Nike football teams have the same barrel with their drivers. And they have all the training software, Trackman, etc.
Many only stay at college for 2 to 3 years anymore. You go to college and get a few things tweaked, voila !
And so it has gone for many years.
Oddly enough, mostly since 2000 or so.
And the manufacturers all employ many researchers who will find something better if only by accident.