John Kirk,
I could be wrong, but I think the OP was questioning greens more like Scott's photo, where the downhill slope is also present at the green. The Stanford hole you show actually has the green built into a gentle up slope. So, it looks just fine.
Those photos from Scott M remind me that at a very hilly Colbert Hills, two greens - 1 and 8 - are actually built reverse grade, but I doubt few notice, much like the Colt course. They would notice if it was truly 2% back to front rather than 2% front to back, because the back of the green would be about 4 ft higher than it is.
The optics of such a situation (not to mention the cut and fill - if Scott had an 8 ft fill behind the green, it would have turned to 12 feet) would make the green would look as if it pitched 4% towards the front. Or more. It sure wouldn't fit the landscape.
That said, when I have played with Tour Pros, not much escapes them and even from the approach zone, they realize what a green is doing, contour wise and usually play accordingly.