I think its important to distinguish between technology improvements that were primarily driven by a desire to make equipment less expensive and/or more consistent versus making the game easier:
cheaper/more consistent:
featherie -> gutty (which I believe DECREASED driving distance)
gutty -> haskell
hickory -> steel
forged -> cast
balata -> surlyn
persimmon -> steel (this really belongs on both lists)
easier:
sand wedge
cavity back
graphite shafts (if you believe more distance = easier)
square grooves
Ti/big ass drivers
multilayer balls
Other than the SW, all the changes on my second list have taken place in the lifetimes of most of us reading this, while most changes on the first list occurred before our birth. Its not technology per se that's a problem, its using technology for the sake of making the game easier.
And we aren't remotely close to being done yet regardless of the what some former USGA officials believe -- we haven't begun to tap the potential technology has to make the game easier just via the shaft, even if the clubhead and ball technology was frozen in time.
Jordan may look back at 2006 with fondness as a time when skill really meant something in golf after he plays 18 with his clubs that have shafts that weigh 5 grams and have been computer designed and manufactured in 2 minutes while he waits based on exact measurements of his swing, to accelerate through impact like a bullwhip and perhaps mitigate the effects of swing flaws that would otherwise tend towards heel hits and a bit of a slice.