Tom:
If you are struggling to answer clients who ask where a course designed by you will rank, I would propose: "I guarantee that I will give this project all of my time and attention and it will be the best possible result that I can accomplish. Can someone else do better, I don't know, but it will be the best that I can do. If that is not good enough, then you should hire someone else." You have highly rated courses so your best obviously is pretty good.
Honestly, I feel bad for the "lesser known" architects whose courses are not ranked. While I agree with your assessment toward a bias to older, revered clubs, the same applies to named architects versus not named architects.
Re: my rankings, I have Pacific Dunes as my favorite design. I liked: it is beautiful, it is a great walk, it has the requisite post card holes (4, 10, 11, 13 and 17) but it also has great inland holes (especially 6-8 and 17-18), it has a lot of variety with the short par 3 (11 and 14) and longer par 3 (5, 10 and 17), short par 4s (1, 6, 16) and long par 4s (2, 4, 7 and 13) and reachable par 5 (12 and 15 depending on the wind) and 3 shot par 5s (3 and 18) and a variety of green complexes (with raised greens such as 3, 6, 13 and 16 and greens that hug the ground more at 4, 8, 10 and 12); it continually changes the directions of holes for purposes of the wind) .
I have Old Macdonald as my second favorite. I liked: its beauty (I think 15 tee is the prettiest place on Bandon property); it is great fun with more fun shots and more memorable moments than any other round of golf (I will always remember walking on top of the dune on 3, hitting the approach on 7, walking around the alp on 16 and hitting my approach on 18); it uses the ground game more than any course I have played; great start and great finish (I absolutely love 1-8 and 13-18); great greens (those greens are just a lot of fun to play).
I have Ballyneal as my third favorite. I liked: its beauty (I know I keep listing it, but it matters); the boldness of the greens (they are bold and as a result, a lot of fun to play); the variety of the par 3s (each one is very unique, at different distances and requiring different shots - the back tee on #11 is the most underrated shot on the course); the uniqueness of certain shots (like the passage through the dunes on 16 and certainly the entire 7th hole); the routing (I think it is the best routing of yours that I have played - you never really know where you are on the property and in context of other holes and the holes all play in different directions).
Just the opinion of a retail golfer not in the business. Thanks for your participation on the site.