I understand the general sentiment here that classic era greens were designed for slower green speeds. (I think you would have been lucky to find greens stimping at 8 at the opening of Merion West. I would guess they were more like 4's.) Additionally, I understand that the desire for fast greens limits the architect in ways that he/she does not prefer. However, I have to disagree with the majority on this site on this issue for 2 reasons.
1. Fast greens are fun to putt on. This may sound simple minded, but is there a more important metric? The members at Winged Foot (or Merion, Oakmont, Olympic, etc.) probably don't care that their greens weren't designed to run at 13. They do however have a lot of fun putting and watching their guests struggle on their greens. If that's what the members like and they are willing to pay for it, then that's what they should do. The decision of green speed at these places should have nothing to do with what the architects want.
2. Fast, well-maintained greens are fairer and truer than slow, well-maintained greens. Good putts stay on line and go in more often, and bad putts are penalized more often. Fast greens generally reward good putters just like good golf holes generally reward good players. On slow greens the margin for error is much larger and well struck putts go in the hole less often, normalizing good and bad putters.
The greens at Ballyneal are fun to putt on because of the wild contours, but they would be more fun if they were a little faster and rolled truer. I mean no offense to Mr. Doak here (although he did open himself up to it by mentioning his own greens).
We have (hopefully) seen that playing countoured greens at fast speeds can be fun without becoming mini golf. At Merion East there are certain hole locations where you just must leave yourself below the hole. You simply have to know that and strategize accordingly. There is nothing wrong with this IMO.
Some of the best greens have great contours but can still accommodate lightning speeds if that's what the members want, i.e. Prairie Dunes.