I'm of the point of view that as an analogy, "just because you are a fat guy, you aren't a culinary expert" and rating chefs and their cuisine doesn't make you a valid "expert" critic solely because you like their food. Like an epicurean and gourmet, you can luxuriate in fine food and drink. But, to be an expert, I think you have to have trained knowledge from a valid culinary school, and have worked in a valid chef environment. Yet, I think you can be well traveled and have developed a keen sense of taste and self studied to the point you have a place in a conversation about rating great dining experiences. It is just that extra measure of real culinary training in techniques of the culinary profession that puts one in the realm of "expert".
So, with GCA, we can be a gourmet, connoisseur, and be well traveled to have seen many courses, and be a good player will add to one's skill set to evaluate and rate courses based on those tastes, but again to enter the realm of expert, I think one needs formal training in design and construction techniques and the practical knowledge of design and creating the field of play. Understanding he other key component to how the architecture functions also takes study of turf to some degree, IMO.
For instance, a rater, gourmand sort of consumer who evaluates and discusses GCA on a forum like this can see an area on a golf course that negatively effects the strategy, function and interest in a golf hole design and realize it doesn't work because for instance it is routed poorly, and leads to a poor and critical collection area of water, and forces a limited strategy and skill set to play the golf hole. One can observe the problem, know it is poor design, but still not be able to critique why the architect is not up to best design practices, because the untrained can't really evaluate the infrastructure issues like what the scope of costs of material to drain, alternatives to how to engineer the problem are a consideration, including the characteristics of the soils and what mechanical usage might have been more effective. That may be splitting hairs, but that is what a real trained "expert" can do, that the rater gourmet can't, generally speaking.