Ahh the age-old question. Hot take perhaps and my opinion has most certainly changed over the years but IMO it's more of a situational knowledge factor rather than assisting with mapping intuition at all. For example as a player I may know a certain pattern works well, so I'll decide to integrate it into my map according to plan. But I don't need to be a player to come up with a pattern that works equally as well as that other pattern. Some things are just tried and tested over the years, and having experience playing a lot of maps can help build your toolbox based on those things. But I believe it has no correlation whatsoever to your skill and execution as a mapper.
Through mentoring new mappers from several player skill levels and growing as a player and mapper myself, I've found to my own surprise that mapping in and of itself contains its own mutually exclusive intuition skillset separate from that of a player. Incidentally, the more you practice designing patterns and subsequently following along their flow with your cursor in the editor, the more you improve your mapping intuition. That is to say, the majority of skill improvement comes from everything you do in the editor from the logical thought-process leading up to and during the placement of a note, to the physical application of mods long after that note was placed. The action of engaging your time and mental energy in the thick of things is key.
Of course that's not to say that good players can't be good mappers, or that the chances a new player becomes a good mapper is always equal to the chances of an experienced player. I simply believe these two sides are truly mutually exclusive so there's no basis for direct comparison. If you ask me, It will always come down to motivation, time investment, and accountability to follow through with your projects and earnestly broaden your horizons as a mapper in a plethora of ways. That's what separates the good from the great. Being good at the game may perhaps be one out of many ways, but I haven't seen evidence that it's at all significant at the end of the day. I've met some of the most cracked players who wanted to give mapping a go, and struggled even more than a newer player would, perhaps due to self-expectations and jumping the gun in terms of pacing their mapping journey.
I wholeheartedly agree with Endaris' conclusion regarding setting your goals. Because your goals will ultimately influence the path you take to get where you're going. That, and your input train of course. The input you observe and take in will lead to the thoughts you think as a mapper, which lead to the actions you take as a mapper, which builds your habits as a mapper, of which consequently define who you are as a mapper.