Mike,
I agree that my one playing of the course probably did not do the place justice. I also imagine that the new holes were a vast improvement over the old (i assume some of the old are contained in the flat third nine). My traveling companions on my trip thought that I was nuts for criticizing the place, as we were in Ireland after all, but look what reading this site has done to me! Enniscrone also suffered slightly in comparison to the others we saw, some of the best in the country.
When I think harder about what struck me as strange about the course, I come up with a few different things from my original post. I guess I was surprised at the dichotomy between the all-world holes and shots (2, 4, 5, 7approach, 8, 14) and the several holes that were very bland (1(strange OB, but cool green),6, 9, 10, 15, 18).
As for my original evaluation of 12-13, I can explain a bit better. As for 12, the green is fantastic, and after looking back on it, I should've cut the corner to the gully before the green. I thought the tee shot was strange, with most shots being repelled to the right rough, and I had trouble deciphering it even with the yardage book in hand. I'm usually a fan of blind shots, but this one was quite puzzling. On 13, my dislike is probably due to how i played it (par, but two trips to the hay), and I should be able to hit the fairway with a 5-iron. It is a pretty interesting hole.
The 14th green is wild, but it is a par five, and this shouldn't matter. What I forgot to mention in my original post was 15. I thought that this hole did not fit at all. It does serve as a link from 14 to 16, but that is about it. I was anticipating getting near the ocean finally during this round, but the hole was totally flat despite minimal contours left of the fairway that could have been used. Perhaps this would have brought the course too close to the ocean. The hole is about 430 or so yards long, and the approach is most likely going to be one of the longer on the course. An approach of this length to a small green with three tiers is very, very difficult. The hole, unlike most others to this point, is a slog. But you can get it back on 16.
I've heard criticism before on 17, a difficult hole with or without wind. It does seem like trying to land a ball on the kitchen table. All four players in my group hit the green with short irons and ended up long in the tall grass. The green should be small at that length, and it is a test of the imagination to find a way to keep it out of the weeds. Carne 16 doesnt quite fit the profile, as I believe that green is rather large and slightly bowl-shaped to catch shots.
I do think Enniscrone has a great set of par 5s, something you don't see too often playing the small acreage courses in the Northeast. I have some great pics of my dad playing shots from the top of those 10-story dune ridges!!
--Brad