Adam,
I've done the "few" clubs thing a few times, including at Warren GC by C & C. The thing with it at Ballyneal was that four clubs was enough that I could hit any shot required.
This is a good thing actually, and with a 3W, 7I, SW, and putter, should be the case just about anywhere.
That said, very little on the course struck much fear into me. The fairways are very generous, the greens are too generally, and as long as I kept it out of bunkers around the greens the shots, while fun, weren't ones that I considered high risk--I putt just about everything though. It didn't seem THAT hard to avoid the bunkers when the wind was down.
Again, I really enjoyed the course and the shots required. The 4-club experience was a blast. Being a GD panelist, I have to rate "resistance to scoring" and I don't think that is Ballyneal's best category. Playability, design variety, memorability are much higher. Chambers does very well in all those categories too, even if the backstops are used quite a bit.