As a long-time member of Montgomery County Road Runners Club in Maryland, I see a high level of interest in accurate, if not certified courses in our club races, including our low-key events. Even for a cross-country race with fewer than 200 participants, the race director fields many questions from participants about how accurate the course is and how it was measured.
I agree that in general, more competitive runners have a keener interest in course accuracy than mid-packers. Yet, interest in course accuracy in MCRRC is high enough among runners of all abilities that we are now launching a project to submit all our road courses for certification, including all the courses for low-key events that have been conducted for 20 years or more on John Sissala - or Phil Quinn - "measured to USATF standards" courses.
Runners in this region surely are more savvy about USATF course certification than some race directors. I recently glanced at the web site of a race whose course I measured for certification. I noticed the words "USATF Certified Race" in the description. The word "Course" was left out of this phrase for reasons that I cannot vouch for. I suppose I will need to start explaining to my measurement clients just what a USATF course certificate is NOT as well as what it IS...