Pros:
Estabrook Park is the shorter, more technical disc golf course of the MKE County Parks System, located on Milwaukee's East Side, that can be deceptively challenging, especially if you're shooting at long pins.
1) Tees & Baskets - currently single concrete tees at most baskets, with a smattering of longer alt tees, which are occasionally hard rubber. Tees are plenty long and grippy, and the baskets are all blue-banded DisCatchers, which are pretty new (< 2-3 years old I think), and in great condition. The signage is very cool, sharp-looking, and informative, but seemed to lack a critical component (see "tee signs" in cons)
2) Tree City - For a park-style course, Estabrook has a LOT of mature trees to contend with, which is cool for both line-shaping, and beauty reasons. Much of the course exists under varying degrees of tree cover, which means you'll need to concentrate on hitting "low, long and strong" lines often. I think it's very pretty and scenic for a city park course, gorgeous in the fall, and honestly one of the strongest aspects of the course, IMO. Better yet, this is accomplished without *too much* meandering into thick woods, though the holes that do are some of the more unique and cool holes in the city.
3) Multiple Pins - Estabrook makes up for mostly single tees by having at least 3 pins on all but one hole. Pin locations change periodically, long pins will challenge intermediate/advanced am players, while short pins will give you many ace runs.
4) Beginner-friendly - Estabrook, I think, hits that sweet spot between being tough enough to challenge skilled players, but not so much of a bear that it is going to blow out and discourage less skilled players. Skilled players will probably appreciate the ace potential there is when the short pins are out. There are some woodsy areas that you can fire your discs into, and a couple of holes that venture into the woods, but they are generally pretty well-maintained - disc loss potential here is on average pretty low.
5) Hole 11 - this, I think, is the coolest hole on the course. Starts on the "normal" plane that the rest of the course is on, then dips into a wooded ravine, with the long pin back up the other side of it. You'll need to execute the elevation and tree spacing well on this one, or else find yourself very far off the mark. Short pin is an elevated basket at the beginning of the downslope that if you run it and miss, you better hope you ping a tree, because otherwise, you can easily be 100' long or more.
6) "Hole 21" - During the winter, a temporary tee and basket gets installed between holes 11 & 12 that takes advantage of the space between these two holes. Honestly, I wish this hole would just be here all year - it would help with navigation immensely (see "navigation" in cons), and is a long run down a gentle downslope with that ever-present tree canopy.
7 ) Extras - 2 practice baskets by the parking lot, as well as benches by many holes, many of which are in the shade. Trash can coverage is normally very good, but has been scaled back in our COVID-19 dystopia.
8) Beer Garden - Hell yeah. There's a beer garden on site. 'Nuff said!
Cons:
A handful of issues hold Estabrook in that "very good", but not truly great category.
1) Elevation - Holes 9-11 feature some cool elevation (yes, 9 does, try noob-hyzering it and having your disc break through the tree wall, or airballing the death putt on the short pin lol), but the rest of the course is flat as a pancake.
2) Navigation - much of the course navigation is pretty intuitive, but a few spots get weird. 6-7 is a bit tricky - it's easy to skip right to 8...you need to walk backward and to the right to get to 7's tee. 11-12 is a really long walk down a path, that the aforementioned winter hole from the pros would help mitigate. 16's basket is way closer to 18's tee than 17's - you need to go back and left to get to 17. Holes 19 and 20 are new and were added a decade+ after the course opened...18-19 is kind of a wonky wrap-around that it's not super apparent where to go.
3) Cramped spacing - The beginning of the course is mostly shorter holes that I think a few are spaced a closer together than they should be, especially with how popular this course is. 6 & 7 is probably the biggest offender - it's very easy for big arms to turn a shot over a bit too much and land smack dab in the middle of 7's fairway. Forehanders who lose control of their drive on 15 are liable to land on 16's tee, and other holes (4 & 5 come to mind, as do 18 & 19 - overshots can land you by the other tee) are just a little close for comfort.
4) Crowded - Estabrook is very popular, and often VERY crowded, sometimes with large, inconsiderate groups. Be prepared for this.
5)Tee signs - For as cool and pretty as they are, they were lacking a pin indicator when I played there last. IDK if that's an oversight (it looked like there were holes to put a screw in!) but I had to manually scope out the basket location a few times.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, Estabrook is a fine entry in a very high quality Milwaukee County Parks disc golf course collection. As with the other County Parks courses, it's P2P ($5 daily, $40 annual), though the annual pass is a no-brainer for any area player. The daily allows you to play all five (currently four are open - Dineen is undergoing a stormwater diversion project) MKE County Parks courses for the day. It's not quite Dretzka or Brown Deer, but it not being as intense as those courses helps it fill a niche for less experienced players.
Overall, Estabrook, by itself, isn't a course you need to drive huge lengths to get to, but it is a should-play if you're going to be in the area for a while, and is a fine compliment to the more challenging Brown Deer or Dretzka.