Am I right in thinking a course like this would give me transferable experience to non aerobatic aircraft, and make me a better pilot?
Yes. The techniques learned flying an aircraft close to it's limit will benefit you in many ways. Your confidence will increase and it will arm you with skills which may be useful later in an airline career. Much training resource is being concentrated on Upset Recovery Procedures Training at the moment after a couple of high profile incidents where it was clear the pilots were not equipped with the skills to deal with the situation they found themselves in. I believe this sort of flying will improve your skill, and it is shared by EASA who are looking how to include practical UPRT in the flying syllabus. My airline put cadets through a 5 hour UPRT course on an aerobatic aircraft during their training.
And I still fly aerobatics when I can. Flying a modern 'fly by wire' airliner at work degrades my flying skills; I like to maintain them by turning upside down regularly. And if you're going to hour build for a professional licence, you may as well have fun doing it. I recommend a tail-dragger as well to maximise the fun.