Jack,
My view of a great course is one that has wonderful shot values, options, strategic hazards, requires some quality strategic thought on the tee shot for best approach to the hole, interesting greens, and good use of the land. SA does have these qualities on most of the holes. I find holes 2, 10-13, 15, and 17 to be very, very strong holes. On the other hand, holes 1,5,9,and 18 are fairly blah holes. And the 3rd hole has to be the weakest and worst Alps hole among all the template versions. It's the weak holes that holds SA back in my ranking it among the elite Raynor courses.
As for Chicago courses, there are some Golf Digest favorites that I find far less than great--Medinah, Butler, and Cog Hill #4. I think Olymipia Fields and Beverly are really wonderful courses, but not top 100 US level. My Chicago ranking is Chicago, Black Sheep and Skokie tied, and then a slight fall off. I really think there needs to be more discussion on what Black Sheep has to offer as a course.
I think metroLA is much stronger than Chicago, not to mention the more well covered areas for great golf.