In WNY, we still have segregation among private course ladies and public course ladies. They don't cross over to each other's championships and, truth be told, if you're any good, you find a cheap, non-public course to join, for the competition.
Publinks had rules that were easy to skirt, especially for college players. The "can't play private course to which your team has access" rule included summer months only. So a Wake kid at Old Town, a UCLA kid at Riviera, a Vanderbilt kid at Legends (and on) would only have to find access to courses from mid May to mid August...precisely when many were following the summer amateur circuit sun. If they weren't playing the tourney o' the week, they would be at home for a rest, basking in the guilt of being a guest at local private clubs.
My problem with the public links was this: no minimum number of rounds at public courses (nearly impossible to police) and no maximum number of rounds at private clubs (nearly impossible to police.) If we are to be letter-of-the-law people, know that adherence costs time and money.
I think that the USAPL lost its way completely in the late 1980s when the Masters took away the Walker Cup team invitations and reduced its amateur invites to 5. Suddenly the USAPL was one way to get in and many (including Michelle Wie) wanted to play. Many found loopholes to meet the entry requirements (or dodged them all together in cloak-and-dagger stuff) and turned it into a non-public affair. Only the kids who obviously could not meet the requirements (I'll use a Peter Uihlein-type as an example) would not make an effort to enter, as they would be scrutinized to the point of exclusion.
There is a huge difference with the women's APL. Since no exemption was on the line, it did have a different flavor, although dominated to the end by college kids.