Pat,
I agree that many modern greens are too flat for a variety of reasons. First among them is that Tiger and company aren't showing up anytime soon at the new muni, and speed of play, reduced scalping when mowing with tri-plexes and other factors dictate contours rather than pure challenge. But, you know that.
Ryan,
You can defend if you put severe, ball kicking contours a few feet from the pin, the kind that kick good shots fifty feet away and sometimes off the green.
While I don't believe you would have to be perfectly fair on every shot (others disagree!) generally you should reward good shots or what's the point? Never being rewarded for a good shot just because a guy named Tiger is hitting a dozen great shots in a row half a world away is a real disconnect for me.
The problem philosophically with random and very rolling green contours is that they randomly reject shots seemingly far more than they assist them or are neutral. For most of us, being 20 feet from the flag and facing a gently rolling putt is enough penalty over someone who is 5 feet from the flag, no? Your chances of making the putt are exponentially less, and the penalty is proportional.
You might have some of those ball kicker separation features on each green, in varying locations to variously impact strategy, and avoiding defending too many pins for everyday play with a valley, ridge, or tier. If a green has severe contour everywhere, there can't be any real strategy, just as Medinah's claustrophic fw corridors eliminate any real tee shot strategy. Thus, extreme rolls beyond anyone's ability to read or conquer might make a course tougher, but does it make it greater?
I hear far too many good players say that wide fw and defending par at the green via contours (hazards don't matter when a good player is "on") makes a course far too easy for the good player. It also makes it imbalanced as a test, favoring long drivers and excellent putters, a la Augusta used to. A few narrow fairways, a few small greens, a variety of hazards mixed in makes for a far better golf course than wild greens, although those who have played my courses can testify I am not against those in spots either.