Fortunate to be allowed? The league has priority? Those sound like nothing but elitist statements.
If they are that important then close the course, have signs up explaining the course is closed or get out of the way of the other people enjoying the public park.
If it's a private course, the owner has the say.
I think he and I are kind of agreeing...like we have 25 percent the same thought but the other 75 percent isn't meeting up.
I would like to see Parks and Rec or DPW or whomever owns the land a league plays on to be more proactive with it. Such as with a Rec Center or bowling alley or baseball field or what have you. The issue, it would seem to me, is that disc golf is a wide-open space. It's usually in multi-use areas. Whereas a golf course will be partitioned off for use only as a golf course, a disc golf course is built typically in some sort of park format/area. This inherently causes a problem with a league trying to reserve the course, especially so if the league is small.
If it's a big, 100-player tournament it's easy for a casual player to pick up what's going down. But when its 10-20 guys playing dubs or even singles, to most casual players that means nothing more than that it is a busy day at the course.
Hence why I think Parks and Rec departments need to be a bit more proactive. I still don't think many of them realize how much bang they are getting for their buck. While disc golf courses are by no means cheap to install, Parks and Rec or DPW usually benefit from a local group volunteering hundreds or sometimes even thousands of man hours to physically do the install. True, Parks and Rec has to provide the grants and surveyors, but that's a pittance compared to what a good club can do as far as maintenance on a course. Essentially, for a few thousand dollar investment they get a self-sustaining project that provides good recreation from entry-level youth all the way up to the most seasoned senior grandmasters, and every dichotomy in-between.
So, it's easy to see why a league/club can off as elitist because of how much effort they put into a course. But they aren't completely to blame. Parks and Rec should step in and grant them, minimum, three hours a week to have the course to themselves by putting up signs on the first and last holes, and the hole in the middle of every course (you all know what I'm talking about) where the random chuckers start for some inexplicable reason. One sign on a kiosk that hardly anyone reads is not good enough pursuant with the effort leagues/clubs put in to keeping a course in good working order.
I find, however, that club reps are hesitant to bring something like this up for fear of losing what little privileges they have, if not the course all together. So no one even makes the attempt. If they did, they would be surprised at how easy to get along with most Parks and Rec officials are. That is a pretty thankless job with not a lot of pay (unless you are in a really big city) so they do it for the love of the job. They will work with you if approached professionally and non-aggressively.
Hopefully this inspires a few clubs to be more proactive in this. it will help bring in new players (you could even put the club membership rep right at hole 1 with info and to answer any questions from casual players) while alleviating the problems of coming across as douchenozzle elitists who take themselves way too seriously.