John Franks (born June 1975) started playing golf at the age of ten, and a steady interest in the game of golf amongst other sports (such as martial arts) earned him a handicap of scratch by the age of nineteen. Towards the end of his junior golfing days, John competed alongside the likes of David Howell in golf tournaments such as the British Boys Championship but due to injuries he started playing the international amateur golf circuit later in 1997, competing alongside now famous tour golfers like Nick Dougherty and Ryder Cup stars such as Paul Casey.

John started representing the county of Surrey in 1998 (with a plus 2 handicap) before racking up multiple golf tournament wins in the year 2000 (including the Selborne Salver, the Surrey County Golf Championship and the Surrey County Golf Team winning side at the English County Champions Golf Tournament), which earned him a place in the England squad.

In 2001, after competing in the British Amateur Championship, John turned professional and entered numerous PGA Europro Tour golf tournaments before trying for his European Tour card at the Qualifying School. Unfortunately John didn’t make it to the European Tour and after a few months deliberation on whether to enlist in the Professional Golfers Association UK (PGA) to become a golf coach he relinquished his golf professional status returning to the amateur ranks in 2002.

By this time John had started working alongside Chris Sells on golf stats and golf performance analysis, already working alongside the likes of Richard Finch, Ross Fisher, David Griffiths, Richard McEvoy and Zane Scotland. Together with Chris in October 2003, John co-founded Sum It Golf Services and (over and above existing clients progressing from the golf amateur ranks) took on their first European Tour client David Howell.

John and Chris began a three year stretch to design and build the world’s most powerful golf statistics recording and analysis website www.StrokeAverage.com, which launched in March 2006. With fantastic ratings from critics and publishers including Today’s Golfer magazine and immediate interest from organisations such as the PGA, leading golf coaches such as David Leadbetter and leading golf tour professionals like Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, it looked as though Sum It Golf Services and StrokeAverage.com would grow into a strong success.

Since the inception of StrokeAverage.com, John has added numerous other skills to his golf business repertoire including caddying for European Tour golfer Andrew Coltart and writing a regular golf instruction column in the golf publication Golf Monthly. This is of course over and above the numerous responsibilities John has within Sum It Golf Services which include the ongoing development of StrokeAverage.com and consultancy to more than forty tour golf professionals.