Sean,
Good posts.
You said what I meant for the most part.
Bifurcation is perfectly fine with me.
The tricky part would be where to draw the line, but as you said. no solution would be simple, but then things that are easy usually aren't worth having anyway.
I'd love to see your maintenance ideas implemented as well, and in my opinion, the "rantings" of those on this board, Geoff Shackelford, and a few others HAVE made a difference with the ruling bodies and SOME of the golf public(see Pinehurst, Chambers Bay-neither perfect but a step)
and as you point out bifurcation already exists-certainly with grooves until 2024.
Additionally, that driver you buy is nothing like the driver the pro is playing, except ironically his is a lot better-bifurcation would take it the other way
The USGA is not "in" bed with the manufacturers, they're under the bed-as in hiding in fear of them due to the PING fiasco.Ironically, this "purist" suffered most when my USGA grandfathered Eye 2 wedge of 25 years was finally eliminated by the "condition of competition".
It wasn't the grooves that I loved, but the grind and variable bounce I've yet to see replictaed, even by an Eye 2 PING copy.
I've never considered myself that much of a purist, I'd have no problem with waffle sized clubs, fancy wedges, or anchored putters as long as the ball/equipment was engineered to reduce/restore the scale of the game-thus reducing cost and time to play.(also along with the common sense maintenance ideas you advocate)
Honestly, I could even live reducing the scale to 1920's size to save more acreage and hiking.
A course tipping out at 6500-6900 yards that a long(Nicklaus/Woods) expert hit it 285,Touring pros hit it 260, I hit it 240, and the average guy played at 5800-6300-perfect.
If maintenance went a bit leaner, drives might even go further via ground game, but the ball would be less likely to fly 280 into someone's house, allowing smaller corridors to be safe.
As far as my money problems-don't throw cold water on my lottery idea