I actually played Druids Glen last November and came away disappointed. Like you, I thought it came across well on TV this weekend and I started to wonder if I had been too harsh in my initial opinion. However, my wife quickly said that we had been right -- the course is nothing special.Your assessment of the back nine is absolutely right -- the holes with water are good, some of them very good, but the dry holes are zeroes. The front has a couple of good "dry" holes, particularly 1 and 2, but the rest is just average.Overall, it's a nice spot, complete with occasional views of the Irish Sea (that they seem hell bent on hiding by planting more trees)in the distance, a terrific clubhouse and a nice rolling piece of land. It has some nice touches -- from the road immediately behind the 2nd to the corner in the wall where the players tee off on the 3rd, to the suspension bridge to the 9th fairway, to the druids' altar near the 12th. However, it just has too many average holes -- the 4th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 16th and 17th. The 12th and 13th are super, with the latter a contender for the most difficult hole in Ireland. The three pools up the 18th are hokey, but they work OK.Given how much I like the European Club (see our write up here), it was surprising that Druids Glen doesn't have more to recommend it as it is also a Pat Ruddy design. An example of the foolishness: On a few holes (e.g., 11 and 16) I am almost certain that they had brought in gorse to plant at "strategic points." The result is awful -- a rectangle of gorse when there isn't any other on the course.