Tommy,
Just a personal observation. When I tell people that our course was built by Seth Raynor, with a redo of a couple holes by Charles Banks, the ratio of blank expressions to those of acknowledgement is about 2 to 1. That's not too bad.
Maybe it's just a California thing.
Nearly everyone on the east coast who calls themselves a golfer knows of PB, CP, Riviera, etc.. This is probably due to the high profile of theses places, unlike the low profiles of NGLA, Merion, PV, etc..
I don't think there really is an AAG but if there is he/she is not such a lamebrain as some people think. When new golfers step off our course and onto the golf shack's porch they invariably offer their observations. Some positive ones are "The greens have so many rolls on them", "Aren't there any flat lies out there", "The terrain is so different", etc.. Add to those the ones who say "All that's missing is the windmill" and baby, we got 'em thinking, or I should say that Seth got 'em thinking.
We are one of the least recognized, smallest Raynor layouts but we are public. I contend that given the access to some of the better courses in the USA the mythical AAG becomes a more intent golfer.