People need to stop freaking out about the 25% and embrace what modern equipment has done for 75% of us.
I'm curious "what modern equipment has done for 75% of us"
What it's done is affect design, maintenance and setup, all in an effort to "protect par"
75% of us have to walk/ride/pay for the land/course that 25%(I'd argue it's more like 10%) are using.
I still don't buy that golf wouldn't be as fun if I hit it 40-50% shorter on a course scaled 40-50% smaller.
If nothing else I could play more holes in 4 hours.
It certainly was a blast when I started and I hit it 150 yards as a kid, and it remained fun when I matured into a professional hitting 250 yard drives and 155 yard 7 irons.
As my store bought driving distance expanded to 285 20 years later at age 42, the game didn't get "more fun" as the courses and setups were mostly scaled up to match. I just had to walk farther, and/or wait longer with groups needing to be spaced farther apart on the course.
It most certainly would've been more fun if I alone had magically increased my distance 15%, and no one else had, in part because I would've actually earned it, but mostly because I would've put distance between myself and my peers.
But when the entire competitive world got longer, the distance alone provided minimal satisfaction.
I just played in a competitive event where my two fellow competitors hit it 300plus yards-every single time. They weren't any better than I was at their age, they just played a different game, and it was frankly boring as they hit wedge to every par 4 and mid iron to every par 5 on the wonderful classic course we were playing, which hadn't been scaled to the modern game.
I would argue they would get far more joy playing different clubs to holes, enjoying curving the ball, and having to think about where their tee shots ended up for optimal angles, as opposed to simply blasting away and reacting to where their drives ended up by hitting high wedges from various lies where angles mattered little.
I myself don't play the white tees for that exact same reason, though I probably will at some point when my lack of variety comes from hitting fairway wood into every hole.
Bowling got less fun when 300 games became commonplace.
Tennis slowed the ball down.
Baseball tweaks its ball, though they do play to average inane fan who likes the long ball at the expense of the finer strategies of the game.
Kalen, your idea about 6000 yard courses and different balls for different players is something I advocated years ago on this forum, and was brushed aside.
I love the idea.
Keeping everyone on the same course with different speed balls solves so many problems.
Shortening the course doesn't really level the playing field.
Having someone hit driver 300 and then SW 105 on a 405/321 par 4 , isn't the same as setting the course up for say a woman to hit it 240 and 81 yards, as getting it closer from 81 is always going to be easier than getting it closer from 105.(when both are making a full swing)
But giving different speed balls, where both levels playing the same tees, and therefore drive similar distances, leaving similar length shots in, provide a better test IMHO.
I.E. they both drive 270 and then the both approach from 130 using different speed balls.
Now their scale remains the same, and one is not given the advantage of being closer(to hit the same club) to a similar sized target