Fine-Tuned for success
Dec 18, 2025
In Auckland’s only engineering and golf studio surrounded by the hum of CNC machinery and the glow of analysis screens, Fine-Tuned is quietly re-engineering the modern short game.
What began as a small New Zealand operation has grown into a precision club brand with representatives across the United States and Japan and users in markets as far away as Sweden. The idea at the centre of the company is simple. Equipment should be engineered to the player, not the other way around.
Fine-Tuned’s founder, once aspiring golf professional and long-time club-fitter Peter Ranford didn’t set out to create a product, he set out to solve a problem. As a young player and coach, he kept hearing the same question from golfers of every skill level: “How do I find the right putter for me?”
Personal fitting existed for drivers, fairway woods and irons yet the clubs used on over half of a golfer’s strokes were treated as fixed objects. To Ranford it made no sense. He knew how much confidence on and around the greens mattered and he could see that the tools available were not supporting the individual. He describes it simply.
“The engineering in the industry was excellent, but the philosophy was one-size-fits-all,” he says.
That realisation became the start of the Fine-Tuned concept. Instead of forcing a golfer into a set shape, offset and feel, Ranford wanted to build a system that adapted around the person. Early prototypes of interchangeable hosels and faces proved the value instantly. When he swapped components he could change how a putter aimed, how it moved during the stroke and how it presented at impact without asking the golfer to change the way they naturally moved.
Those early tests grew into a full modular platform. A range of head shapes with distinct mass properties. Multiple hosel options to change offset and toe hang. Face designs that influence launch and roll. Each part is precision milled to tight tolerances so adjustments translate directly to stroke dynamics. The platform now supports more than 30,000 combinations. For the golfer, that doesn’t mean complication but arriving at a putter that genuinely matches their natural motion for better performance.
Once the putter system proved itself it was a natural step to apply the same thinking to wedges. Traditional wedges can be surprisingly restrictive. If you adjust loft, offset or bounce you often find that changing one element disrupts another. Fine-Tuned wanted golfers to break free of that limitation.
Each wedge head is forged in two degree increments then checked to spec and milled for consistency in face and sole geometry. This creates reliable spin, predictable turf interaction and the ability to hit it closer from more spots. It also creates the base for Fine-Tuned’s key innovation in the wedge category, the Interchangeable Bounce. Where a traditional grind locks a golfer into a single bounce profile for the life of the club, Fine-Tuned’s modular plate system allows the same head to run nine bounce options. This lets the golfer control how the leading edge sits and how the sole glides or digs through the ground. For players who travel or face a wide variety of course types this adaptability is a genuine advantage.
The Auckland facility feels closer to a biomechanics lab than a workshop. High-definition infrared cameras, motion tracking sensors and proprietary analytical tools measure the micro movements of a player’s stance, path and release. Rotation speeds, face angle patterns, wrist angles, posture and weight distribution all feed into the build process.
That data becomes a design prescription. For putters, it can point to one of more than 30,000 build paths once head shape, hosel, face, weighting and spec are accounted for. For wedges, the process maps technique and preferred conditions to a recommended loft matrix, bounce configuration and flange selection. The goal remains the same across both categories. Rather than altering a golfer’s technique, the club is shaped to complement what the golfer already does well.
Fine-Tuned has worked closely with many of New Zealand’s top professionals. Michael Hendry, Josh Geary and Mark Brown have been fitted through the studio and Ryan Fox recorded a DP World Tour win with a Fine-Tuned putter in the bag. Custom builds have also been created for figures such as Sir John Key and former US President Barack Obama.
Ranford highlights that the process is identical whether the client is a tour player, an engineer who loves the precision of the system or a weekend golfer who wants to make more putts. Everyone follows the same path because everyone’s movement is unique.
As the brand has grown internationally its focus has shifted further toward data and remote fitting. Ranford describes biometric information as a performance compass for the modern golfer. Golf has always leaned on feel, but data is now guiding how equipment should evolve as the player evolves.
Fine-Tuned’s newest chapter is the expansion of remote stroke analysis and Virtual Fitting technology. A golfer anywhere in the world can send video, images or sensor data to the Fine-Tuned team. Analysts use a biomechanical interpretation engine to study posture, rotation speed, wrist patterns and the subtle tendencies that define a player’s natural motion. From there the team builds what Ranford calls a living prescription. It outlines the recommended build for today along with an understanding of how that build might change as technique and physical capacity change over time.
Future proofing is built into the entire system. The human body changes. People age, train, recover from injuries and shift their swing mechanics. Equipment should adapt with them. Because each Fine-Tuned putter and wedge is modular, every club is designed to be recalibrated as time passes. Components can be swapped, loft and lie can be adjusted, weight can be redistributed and bounce plates can be changed to suit new courses.
Every Fine-Tuned product has been made specifically for the end customer. Every component moves through machining, polishing, assembly and controlled calibration before it reaches a player. Aesthetic individuality also plays a role. The studio has produced one-off builds with specific colours, bespoke logos, team inspirations and corporate identity.
Ranford describes it simply: “If someone wants their putter to feel like a race car and look the part, the studio can make that happen.”
For him the reward is straightforward. Working with players to create something that feels personal and built to improve performance: a club that will go the distance as their game evolves.