I believe the 400 yard drives are down wind and way down hill on a concrete fairway. Most of them come in the Mercedez at the Plantation Courses 12th hole which is played off a mountain. As can be seen in the stats department at the pga site. Dont think the boys are hitting the ball 400+ on a level playing field with no wind. There good but the long ball hitters only hit the ball 360 in those conditions.

As far as the old courses becoming obsolete. The old course has been around for 500 years and been a challenge and I think they will keep it in the mix even if the winning score is now 274 instead of 283. (the difference between tigers win last year and Jacks win in 1970).

Interestingly if we continue the trend and go back another 37 years to the 1933 Open the winning score was 292. Would you look at that exactly the same difference of 9 stokes better in 37 years. Another 33 years to the 1900 open and the winning score was 309. Of course in 1933 the 1900 guys were whinning about the New balls. In 1970 the 1933 Boys were whinning about the steel Shafts and in 2007 the 1970 Boys are whinning about Large headed drivers, Graphite Shafts, Better balls, square grooves, perfect sandtraps, etc. So the most important thing to realize here is that while each generation appears to be superior to the previous due to passed down knowledge each successive generation also appears to be more adapt at whinning.(See Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player)