Without actually putting a hold on equipment with measures like the ball cannot fly further than x amount of yards per loft
I'm having a hard time understanding what that could even look like, or best case, how that's different than what we have now.
We have an Overall Distance Standard. It limits the distance the ball can fly based on, basically, the ball speed. Driver CoR regulations limit what the smash factor (i.e. ball speed / clubhead speed) can be. So, given optimal launch conditions, the ball is already limited. Change the loft and you're getting away from optimal launch conditions. So the ball is already limited in how far it can fly.
The long drive guys swing faster. You've probably seen Jamie Sadlowski drive a putter 300+ yards. So I'm having a hard time understanding what you'd do to cap his driver loft (let's say 6.5°)? Dustin Johnson swings faster. You can't legislate actual swing speed… and we already have an ODS.
, I don't believe the rules will ever keep pace with equipment makers. I have over 100 years of evidence to this fact
You seem to believe that distance can continue to increase via technology. I don't think it can - we have an ODS, and physics still applies on planet Earth.
Your "evidence" is not a "fact." The ODS was first created in the mid-70s, and balls were immediately pushed out to that distance. They were the Pinnacles of the time. Pros continued to play balata, because they needed the control, but the only thing that happened was that the technology allowed manufacturers to put a balata-like skin (urethane) and softer outer layers on a firmer core, getting a bit of "best of both worlds."
The ODS was modified, too, to add another standard for higher swing speeds, in the early 2000s or so IIRC. Have you read this:
https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/pdf/Equipment/TPX3006-overall-distance-and-symmetry-test-procedure.pdf ?
Technology goes through jumps. We saw technology go through many of these over the 100+ years you're talking about. But, only recently did the USGA/R&A regulate this: we have an ODS, we have a limit on club length, we have a limit on CoR, we have limits on all kinds of things.
Yes, if you remove those limits, we'd see PGA Tour golfers hitting the ball 400 yards with regularity. But we don't, because we have those standards and limits in place.
It's not a fact that technology can keep advancing… given the artificial limits placed on it by the ruling bodies already.