I agree with the idea that you cannot get the same performance out of wood as you can with metal... wood is not nearly as consistent as metal. It has defects and a mind of its own... trust me, I'm a woodworker and Luthier...
As far as making pros play woods that are less forgiving, many already play blades, which have not changed much at all in the last 50+ years... the shafts have but the heads have not... the sweet spot is the same size, and they don't have a problem hitting it. I think making the sweet spot smaller on woods would have a very slight changer in distance, but Bubba does not hit it 330 with miss hits.... same with COR. the ball is still gunna go.
We as mortals would suffer because the endorsements and r&d; would drop off because the best are not actively engaged in driving the development... why would a company like taylormade work to develop newer tech if the average joe is not going to get to see the big names hitting it on TV... I guess it may be like cavity backs vs blades, but I don't think there would be near as much hype in the metal wood department. Tiger plays Nike clubs, but his irons are custom made blades, but if you buy some Nike irons, your still playing the same brand as Tiger. If Tiger chooses them, then they must have their heads on right in the R&D; department... I don't think this will translate in the wood department, because there is no advantage to playing the same brand as X because that club is designed to limit and not do anything specifically better for the player.