I have played MP and PN around 10 times each, PH2 twice, and PH4 and 8 once each. MP and PN are among my very favorite courses. I listed them as the first ones I could play every day as well as answering Zac Blair’s question about great golf experiences. Like several previous posters, I enjoy the two course about equally.
However, when it comes to “Best” v “Favorite”, I use a heuristic to define Best: how both mentally exhilarated and exhausted am I at the end of a round. Exhilaration captures overall enjoyment (fun, beauty, pacing, and the like); exhaustion captures overall quality (layout, overall quality of the holes, strategic imperatives, and challenges presented). For me, the “Best” courses balance the two.
By my measure, PH2 is one of the Best courses that I have ever played. In the Sandhills, MP would be next because as Jay notes, it does provide more of what I call the mental exhaustion factor than PN. PH4 did not score particularly high on either part of my scale.
I do look forward to trying SP, Dormie, and TR at some point.
Ira