In sports (and in business), two factors affect success. The physical and the mental are two parts of the whole, yet one is easier to evaluate to predict success… especially in football.

In business, we tend to focus more on the mental than the physical of the people we work with. This is why artificial intelligence is both an opportunity and a detriment.

AI has the benefit of agility and speed with decision-making. It also has a bit more consistency and predictability than humans. If you take a robot with adequate physical abilities and supercharge it with AI, it can score wins in a more frequent and predictable model.

The scary part is that it learns from the past and tries to predict the future. When AI makes decisions based on an unforeseen circumstance, it will either shut down or fail. It may learn from mistakes but often lacks the emotion or empathy to evaluate its decisions from a moral or personal perspective.

Golf, football, baseball, and other sports are generally described as a game of inches. Golf is about the six inches between your ears.

Even if you have mastered the physical skills, your mind can keep you guessing. The question is, what data are you paying attention to, and how fast can you make an educated decision?

I find that capturing, processing, and utilizing data is key to success… in sports and in business.