Thanks A.G. for a thoughtful and reasonable response on this issue. You bring up an interesting point in regard to course conditions. I alluded to this in a post earlier today, but it seems to have been either overlooked or ignored...regardless, part of the reason these guys are shooting so low has to do with the conditions of the courses they play on.
For one, the greens they putt on are immaculate, and these guys are that good that if you give them a true surface to putt on, they are going to make a lot of putts.
Secondly, it seems a lot of tournament directors are trying to set up their courses to play very soft, in an attempt to make the courses play longer? This does nothing but play into the long hitters hands - they can fly the ball 300 yards off the tee, and then fire whatever they want into the greens because they know the greens will hold them.
Why not firm up the fairways and the greens, maybe even bring the rough in a bit - hide the flagstick. Firmer fairways will result in more long balls rolling into the rough (if they roll an additional 50 yards down the fairway - then great - the guy it a great drive). Firmer greens and tighter flags will result in players having to utilize a softer (shorter) ball to hold the greens. Setting the course up firm and relatively narrow, will in fact force a lot of these guys to play a different ball and think before pulling out the big dog on every hole.
Creating a competition ball, which doesn’t go as far, is a step backwards, and I don't think that's where golf needs to go right now. The USGA DOES need to find a way to slow things down as far as golf ball technology goes (and that IMO is realistic), but they don't need to tone the ball back. Right now the fact of the matter is that golf is becoming a power game, the guy who hits the ball farther will always have an advantage (and always has). The fact that there are more guys on tour now than 10 years ago that can hit it over 300 yards does not have everything to do with the ball or the club. It has to do with the fact that there have been more people introduced to the game of golf every year - it's no longer just a country club sport for the wealthy. The process of natural selection is starting to take place with regard to the long hitters taking the game over. Evolution can't be stopped.
Does this men we need 8000 yard courses? I don't think so. It means designers, tournament officials, owners and architects need to start coming up with new innovative ideas to take the driver out of the golfers hands...be that with doglegs, heavy rough, firm greens, severely undulating greens, firm fairways, narrow fairways, penal hazards, etc...a thinking man's course. While everyone might not love it, I think the course those guys are playing on today shows that you don't need a tremendously lengthy course to challenge the best in the world.
Some of the classical courses may become outdated for the PGA Tour, or require alterations, but that's a sad fact of life - everything gets outdated eventually. But I don't think people will stop playing, appreciating or enjoying those gems which stay true to their original design.