Of my own courses, Cape Kidnappers, Rock Creek, Stone Eagle, and Stonewall (x2) are the best that weren't built on sand.
(The others are: Apache Stronghold, Beechtree, CommonGround, The Rawls Course, St. Emilion, Stoatin Brae, and Tumble Creek. Which is an okay list.)
Those were all WAY HARDER to build than Pacific Dunes or Ballyneal. (Tara Iti wasn't so easy, because we had to get rid of all the trees and the root mass that went with them.)
But if you look at my track record ON sand, you can see why we prefer sand. And it's not like I'm alone. In fact, Donald Ross would have backed me up on that ... after all, what do Pinehurst #2 and Seminole have in common? Pretty much any architect would rather build on sand, if they have half a brain.
I'm not sure about the answer to your question, though. I'll be curious to see the answers. [For Bill and Ben, there's Cuscowilla, Kapalua, Austin Golf Club, and the new Trinity Forest course ... I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple.]