Jim:
I would be happy to answer that question, but I don't really know how to compare the two.
Both properties had an almost unlimited canvas to draw on, although at Ballyneal the clubhouse location was a fairly simple decision and at Rock Creek it was much more up to me.
For Rock Creek, we did some early routings that started from a remote location and wound up back at the lodge, thinking that a closed loop would require too much of a climb to be walkable. (The elevation change from #7 tee to #17 green is 360 feet, so that's how much of a climb you make in the course of 18 holes, too.) So from that standpoint, we considered more variables, and the process was a bit more interesting.
However, the elevation change had a lot to do with our thinking all the way through that project ... how to get up the hill, and where to cross the stream were big choices with limited alternatives. Whereas at Ballyneal, you could choose to go in more different directions ... the only tricky part was finding a good way to get down the hill after you started out on top for #1. We had to look for the way down for 2-3 site visits, until we eventually wandered off the map and found the third hole and fourth tee.
As far as building them, Ballyneal was certainly more fun to build ... working in the sand is a lot quicker and easier than working in the rock, and you can be more creative along the way because the work is easy to erase. Rock Creek was the hardest construction job we've ever done, and it didn't happen quickly. My thanks to all who worked there, but especially to Eric Iverson and Jonathan Reisetter who put in the most hours on the rock pile.