Pros:
Beautiful course, in one of the most ideal disc golf settings imaginable. Big Monterey pines and scrubby oaks along a ridge-line with deep inscribed canyons make up the natural backdrop of the course, all of which look down over the city of Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay. Simply gorgeous. There are at least a dozen epic ocean views at various spots on the course, if one pays attention.
The challenge here is amazing. Mistakes are punished brutally in subsequent throws...e.g., stray only a few feet off the fairway into the big trees on most of the holes, and you'll be hard pressed to have a subsequent upshot at the pin.
The variety of shots on this course is wonderful. You'll find just about every kind of throw will be needed just to stay at par. Uphill, downhill, right, left, flat, open, tight, tunnel, gut shots, low ceilings, you name it. Nevertheless, the route to perfection is possible, and each hole tantalizes the player with the possibility for that perfect shot off the tee.
Hole 13 is the most difficult "par 3" I've ever seen. The locals call it "I-5" as one is lucky to get there in 5 throws. If you have a big arm, try to hyzer a shot into the trees and get a big skip back toward the tee. Otherwise lay up in the meadow and try to navigate the oak limbs.
The old school locals and the Club at DeLaveaga are of course legendary, you'll run into numerous world champions, disc golf hall of famers, disc golf professors, and everything in between. The distance of the park from the city center ensures that only disc golfers will be encountered up here, so it is a bit like a disc golf nation. Good stuff. Lots of different age groups play at DeLaveaga, from under 10 to over 80 years old!
UPDATE, February 2011: New tees on holes 1, 5, 14, 15, 26, and 26a, and lots of new erosion control, wood chips, retention walls being installed. The course is getting a huge makeover for the 2011 PDGA Pro Worlds.
Cons:
Some of the holes are thrown in seemingly as afterthoughts, in order to connect one hole to the next. But these still offer great play.
The only drawback I can possibly think of is that the park road figures prominently in vicinity to most of the holes/fairways/baskets, so one's peace is a bit disturbed by cars going to and fro, and the ever-present OB hazard of the road itself is a bit annoying, even if adding to the challenge (I would prefer if it were a river instead). But it is hard to think of anything that could realistically be done about it.
Other Thoughts:
I would rate this course a 5, but I must hold out and think there will be an even better course out there somewhere...at least, that is the way it seems in my dreams.