Yes, it skews perception a bunch, so great topic! Some marvel at how a long hitter "only" averages 299 or 305 when they see him busting drives over 325 when in contention. Those other weeks, when they aren't on top of their game, it is much lower, accounting for some of the averages. Some say measuring only two drives per round affects it, but they do try to measure driving holes with reasonable width, etc. (BTW, I joked that the first sign that Rahm had covid was a drive under 320 yards......)
And, let's not forget that the perception issue is even greater at lesser events, including college golf, regional tourneys am and pro, etc., where the course needs to be set up to "protect the bottom half of the field."
TD mentions the Ryder Cup, and I recall the 1995 event, where I opted not to follow the crowds and followed at different times, either Sevy or Ben. Sevy was all over the place, and the sound of Ben's shots was a real "clank" I would expect of a hack, so no, they weren't playing well that week. Ben went 3-5-1 and Seve was 1-2.
The median PGA Tour drive is still in the 290's (i.e., the 100th player on a list of about 200 at least sometimes competitors. The senior PGA Tour driving distances are about 275 on average. I once calculated the average as well, because sometimes they can be much different, but that turned out to be similar (and I'm not doing that math again)
So, design wise, I wonder how much TV affects one of the basic decisions in routing - Where to put the theoretical dog leg point as a starting point (yes, you have to adjust for wind, slope, elevation changes at some point, but for construction convenience, we usually try to keep them consistent for real golfers and every day play?
Some gca's use 300 yards/900 feet, others use 283/(850), and still, others remain at 267/ (800 feet) for regulation courses. I know one who uses 840 feet for some reason, which is 280 yards. It probably depends on the makeup of the course.
We know only 1% of golfers really hit it over even 283 or 267. Actually, the most recent RA and USGA average drive by handicap puts the average drive of even A players at 258. So, how do we best represent those back tee players when laying out a hole?
-Design for the relative few who hit it over 320?
-Design for about 300 yards (which Dr. Broadie charts as a typical A player distance at 297, not much different than the Tour)
-Design for the 280+ range, i.e., an average of PGA and Senior tour distances (i.e., 295+274/2 = 284.5) as more realistic for most courses?
Just talking back tees here for so called "championship courses" at least 7,000 or similar. Just want to get some other takes, since the question came up. And, given only 1% of play comes from the back tees at most courses, at least my clients would balk at building more than 1000 SF of back tee, so a long tee stretching from 280 to 350 is probably out. (even at just 20 feet wide that is over 4,000 SF, about the same size you would devote to the middle tees where 50% of play occurs.
Will be interesting to hear opinions. Obviously, the "right" answer will vary by course type, but if you are hesitant to chime in, I will stipulate that there really are no wrong answers, at least conceptually.