King's Forest Golf Club has been voted the best municipal course in the country.

The east-end course has been crowned "King of the Munis" in the summer 2013 issue of SCOREGolf Magazine.

Three years ago, the course made the magazine's Top 100 Courses list - the first city-owned-and-operated course to ever make the cut.

"It's an honour to be recognized," said Rob Gatto, manager of golf operations for Hamilton's three municipal golf courses at King's Forest and Chedoke.

"The city of Hamilton should be quite proud of the great assets we have right in the heart of the city."

King's Forest is one of three municipally owned courses in Hamilton, the other two being the Martin and Beddoe courses at Chedoke. The Chedoke courses did not make the cut.

King's Forest - the city's flagship course - also cracked the magazine's list of Top 59 public courses in Canada this year, at number 51.

The course is one of the busiest in Canada, averaging 42,000 rounds annually over the past five years. Last year, it hosted 140 golfers in the Ontario Regional Qualifier round for the RBC Canadian Open.

Former Hamilton Spectator reporter and golf writer Garry McKay - who wrote the SCOREGolf article on the course - described it as challenging but fun.

"It's a wonderful piece of property with a little bit of everything - beautiful trees, elevation change and rolling terrain, ponds and creeks and the new cart paths that went in earlier this year are a welcomed improvement," McKay said in a news release Wednesday.

For more information on the city's municipal courses, visit www.hamilton.ca/CultureandRecreation.