Tom - I have not played 5 of your courses yet (standing currently at 4), so I don't qualify, but I would rank them (1) Pacific Dunes, (2) Old Macdonald, (3) Ballyneal and (4) Lost Dunes. I have Pacific Dunes as my clear #1. I think Ballyneal and Old Macdonald are very close and almost interchangeble at 2/3. I have Lost Dunes as the clear 4th (mostly due to the land/highway).
However, I do think that your point on rankings not wanting too many courses from 1 designer is accurate. I don't think it is intentional, I just think raters and magazines don't want to be viewed as being unreasonably biased toward 1 architect. We all have our favorites and our ratings will reflect that, but if it is a close call, I think it is human nature when making a subjective determination to prefer the different rather than the norm (so you can be viewed as "fair"). Also, I think a lot of raters don't want to be viewed by the editor/panel as "stupid" so they are predisposed to follow the current rankings. For example, I try my best to "follow my instincts and my evaluation" and not be influenced by the "general consensus", but you open yourself to criticism when you rank a Ballyneal higher than Oakmont or a Kinloch higher than Winged Foot or a Dormie Club higher than #2 (all of which I do).
I know a lot of people that think the best example of this theory is your course at Rock Creek Cattle Company, which several people have told me is the single most underrated golf course in the US. I have yet to talk to a person that has played it that does not have it very high on their personal list. Yet it still is not highly ranked. Unfortunately, I think it opened right after several of your big successes, was in a remote location and did not receive the "hype" that other places have received. Accordingly, it got lost. My guess is that if it received the "hype" that Streamsong/Bandon/Cabot Links received, it would be higher ranked.