I see what you mean by all this, Personally the gimmicks do get a little too annoying for me.
But if you've seen the older version of the game you'd see the difference between them is something very specific.
They really wanted to nail in the "retro game" idea.
From mechanic ideas, to visuals, to practically almost everything that happens...
There's this vibe of "game" on it.
Which is somewhat the exact opposite of what you seem to want. Having a more down to earth mechanics that combine with the golfing physics and such like the wind make alot more sense than a huge dashing enemy.
This is a mini-golf game, isn't it?
...okay now for my opinion:
I agree the game did feel different than the beggining, And honestly I think it isn't because the game is *actually* different, It's probably just because it's different from perspective of the game I was playing before this update.
Before this update, If someone came with a mod where you grind to get extra content, Add a ton more mini-games, And ESPECIALLY, added A LOT of skins...
I wouldn't have liked the drastic change.
I love the game, but from my POV, I would have done it so much differently.