Pros:
Two, flush to the ground, concrete tee pads on nearly every hole. These aren't the longest tee pads, but with them flush to the ground, I had no problems starting on the edge or just behind them.
Both tees have really good tee signs, mounted on large Red and Blue posts, yes for the Red and Blue tees! The tee signs are upgraded from the ones pictured on here, Par and distance to both (or more) baskets, and a very detailed diagram. They have distance measurements (dashed lines) from each tee to the baskets, how far to that gap in the trees?, oh just over 200'!
All holes have at least two basket positions, with PVC pipes marking the unused position. All seemed to be in the long positions the day I was there. Not sure how often they are changed but this helps with the replay factor.
A good mix of wooded and open holes, also good mix of left and right turning holes, more left than right and several straight shots through the palms.
#18 is a great finishing hole, with plenty of risk/reward. If you're trailing on the last hole, do you go for it, or play it save?
Oh yea, tons of parking available also!
Cons:
Probably the biggest Con here is the walk to a separate section of the course to play holes 6-8. It wasn't as long as I thought it was, but it led to 3 pretty basic holes. #7 backed up to a great looking river and there was an old court fence along #6 but it just seemed strange to use this area.
The open holes were spread out quite a bit, it seems the layout could skip these 3, and add 3 more open holes, that would bring the course pretty close to a 50-50 split between open and wooded.
While there is a large open area between #1 and #18, #1 uses a good part of the road as the fairway. If the park is busy with the many other uses, mountain biking, kayaking, horseback riding and dog walkers (all there the day I played), it would interfere with this hole.
Other Thoughts:
I've got to hand it to New Smyrna Beach, great looking town, beautiful beach and 3 eighteen hole courses, all rated 3.0 or higher. (Plus a decent Niner at a nearby church.) Glencoe is a mostly open, good place to bring the beginners, then Holland is completely wooded and tight, then Doris Leeper, longer, mix of holes and the best of the bunch.
After #1 starts in the open, with a low ceiling to avoid, then #2 thru #11 play through the woods, some hardwoods, mostly palms. #12 has tight line to hit, before opening up to the pasture. Most of the rest of the holes are in the open pasture, with cut grass fairways (paths) and longer rough.
#15 is the exception on these, tight off the tee, then turning left and going under a low ceiling to the basket.
#9 - #11 are the tightest and best looking holes through tight palms. Challenging and really give you that FLA feel.
#18 is the signature hole on the course, 307'/420' Par 3 that is open off both tees, then a small pond, filled with cattails, right in front of the two basket positions. There is room to bail out on either side, depending on the basket position, but that leaves you with a long run at birdie. They do have a Drop Zone, that has to cross the entire pond, between two big palms.
It looks like the NSBDGC has been very active at Doris Leeper lately, multiple tees, great signs and a fun and diverse layout. This course feels a lot better than the current rating of 3.0.