The 95% rule is a part of the World Handicapping System and is applied to all Scottish strokeplay and stableford competitions. The purpose of the rule is to normalise scores between higher and lower handicap players.
For example, a 26 handicap player has much more variability in their scores than a 5 handicap player. The 26 handicapper can easily have a good day and shoot 10 shots under their handicap by completing a par 74 course in 90 strokes. However, the 5 handicapper would have to shoot 5 under par for the course to compete, which would be an extremely unlikely event. The 95% rule is meant to compensate for this.
In the example above, the 26 handicapper would have a competition handicap of 25 rather than 26. The 5 handicapper also has 95% applied to their handicap:
High Handicapper: 26 x 0.95 = 24.7 = 25 competition handicap
Low Handicapper: 5 x 0.95 = 4.75 = 5 competition handicap
The low handicapper still has to go 4 under the card, which is still extremely unlikely, but one shot makes a huge difference at that level of play.
It is only a subtle change, but it is supposed to balance results over time. It used to be that the 95% rules was not applied to small fields (less than 30), but now Scottish Golf have ruled it applies to all competitions. It is causing some confusion for us at the moment, because your scorecard in the app shows your course handicap, not your competition handicap.
The competition handicap is 95% of your course handicap and the 95% adjustment is applied before rounding. It produces some strange results which appear to go against the spirit of the rule, but Scottish golf have confirmed that the rule must be applied.
In the May Medal 2023, Edgar and I both shot the same score and we both had the same course handicap of 15. The competition results showed the following:
The handicap index is converted to a competition handicap by the following formula:
index x (slope rating/113) x 0.95
For Edgar: 14.5 x (118/113) x 0.95 = 14.385 = 14 competition handicap
For me: 14.8 x (118/113) x 0.95 = 14.682 = 15 competition handicap
Naturally, Edgar queried the result, since his scorecard showed his course handicap not his competition handicap. I eventually realised that the 95% rule was the culprit. I had a long conversation with our Scottish Golf liaison about it and the result has to stand.
The only place to see the competition handicap in the system is on the results sheet. I have so far not found any way to print out a competition handicap listing. You can calculate it for yourself using the above formula.
So there you go. If the handicap that appears in the results for the competition is not the same as your course handicap, the reason is the 95% rule.
The Scottish Golf rules were correct and current at the time of posting. There is every possibility that rules may be reviewed and changed on a future occasion.