Goose Creek - a solid but easy layout. And, the 18th hole is horrible. It's definitely worth playing and with a generally flat piece of land (and as Jon pointed out, smelly) S&C did well for themselves. 1 and 10 are very similar holes also. I've played it 3-4 times.
Matt,
I have not played Sandpiper, nor have I played Pelican Hill post-redo (and the first time I played it was LONG ago) nor Ike post re-do, only the babe a few times.
Lost Canyons Sky - given the land, it's not half bad. I wouldn't rave about it and think a place like Rancho Park or Griifith Park is better, but there are some truly excellent holes. Having only played it once, I can't get into detail about much but from what I recall, there are some very good things and the very bad things are understandable (though not necessarily forgiven) due to the nature of the site. The 17th hole is a tremendous par 3, even aside from the view.
Trump -
Well, this is not a great golf course. However, I'm on record as saying it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. It's treated like it's the single worst golf course in the world, when in fact it may just be the single worst value in the world (green fees jumped to I think 395 on weekends now?)
The 18th hole I think is actually quite good, and having seen the before and after I think Trump did quite a bit to improve the place. Again, some absolutely offensive holes there - the par 5 on the back that goes uphill and crosses 1 or 2 native areas - extreme southwest corner of the property running south to North, and of course the fact that all holes run generally N-S is a weakness. My guess is if it were set in the mountains instead of on the ocean, it'd be like Lost Canyons Shadow (which I've only driven around but not played)....expensive, some people will play it and like that kind of thing, but it's just not for me.
I have always admitted that I am an ocean whore, but I don't really take that into account when judging the architecture of a course, only my desire to play it....and yes, I'd rather play at Trump than Lost Canyons Shadow (i suspect...) if given the choice all things equal because of the setting.
Not that it matters to the course, but I give Trump a lot of credit for taking a few housing lots and turning them into a world class driving range. For all the bad that is said about the man, those are million-dollar lots...you can actually see what they did (unless it's been updated) by going to google earth and looking at the map-view and then changing to satellite or hybrid view. The range is wonderful (though sometimes in use of mats)
Regarding Rancho Park, I think it's a solid public course....I ranked it in what, my top 12? There are some very cool holes out there, and I think the course really stands out on the back nine. Is it worth a 2 hour waitlist and a 6 hour round? Maybe once every couple of years...but I think the LA area is full of unspectacular but very solid munis (Griffith Park, Rancho Park, Los Verdes, Rec. Park in LB) - nothing like a Bethpage or Harding Park, but if not for the impossibility of playing them all, I'd have spent more time on each (though I probably have played Los Verdes 30 times)