Punchbowl greens were much more common before irrigation systems, when the goal was to collect enough water to grow grass, instead of just to get it to drain away quickly. They are a natural formation [there are bowls EVERYWHERE in the dunes], and they do not necessarily make for easy golf.
I suspect I've built more than a lot of architects, because I am prone to using native materials for the greens. Then you do not have to worry about contaminating the greens mix, as you would on a USGA green if surface water from around the green drains across it. It is difficult to build a punchbowl in clay soils for that reason, even if you are building USGA greens.
What you don't see much anymore is a green with the bottom of the punchbowl actually INSIDE the green, so it doesn't surface drain anywhere. The only one I've ever built like that was the 10th at High Pointe (natural). If you are in an area where there is snow and ice in the winter, you'll eventually have a problem otherwise. Many of the greens described here actually surface drain off the green ... for example #12 at Chicago Golf Club, or most of Macdonald's other punchbowls. Interestingly, though, The National Golf Links has quite a few drainage pockets in its greens ... it was built before the days of much irrigation, and Macdonald probably had not anticipated the winter issues at that point.
The last three green sites at Old Macdonald are all punchbowls of one sort or another.