Tough question, Bob!
You are correct that the shape and hoseling of the putter can complicate accurate aiming for almost all golfers. As it stands now, golfers have to trust their gut about the "look" of a putter. You often hear golfers talking with very vague terminology about how the "putter sets up to the eye," or some junk like that. It's a "pretend" way of acting in control when the golfer really doesn't know what he is saying, but his gut prompts him to say something anyway, so he acts knowledgeable. (All vague jargon gets generated in this adoption of a false authority to cover over a lack of real knowledge.)
However, when you closely examine what is occurring visually when a normal adult human looks down at a putter in the process of aiming it and assessing the aim, the shape and hoseling of the putter face are merely visual distractions from what the golfer really needs to look at. Every putter today has a straight edge of the putter face from heel to toe. Looking down, depending upon the loft, the golfer can see the top edge, the vertical plane of the face, and the bottom edge. Both lines as well as the vertical surface rectangle are all visually parallel to one another and also SHOULD appear visually square to the intended line of the putt, pointing the face at the target accurately. Using the putter face with good visual skill is the key to targeting accuracy from beside the ball.
Please note that the putter face is initially aimed only based on the sense of direction or line between ball and target developed from behind the ball, followed by placement of the putter and aiming of the putter face along this line to the target WITHOUT trying to look at the target. Perceptions are "built" by the way in which we gather the information -- by positioning, posture, and movement of sensory organs in relation to our interest in the world. The use of the body to build targeting perceptions behind the ball is completely different from that beside the ball. You need accurate physical procedures for both sorts of targeting. The aiming of the putter face separates the two procedures.
The manner of looking from ball to target from beside the ball is what really matters in your question, and if you try to aim the putter face from beside the ball while also trying to locate the target from beside the ball, you are replacing the perceptions you generated from behind the ball with haphazardly generated perceptions. Don't do that -- use perceptions gained from behind the ball about where the ball points to the target and how the ball sits on the line as seen from behind and use these at-the-ball cues to aim the putter face to start with, WITHOUT trying to locate the target beside the ball while also aiming the putter face. The putter face aiming is done almost entirely with ball-related visual cues, and without much or any attempt to coordinate putter face aiming at the target as "looked for" while aiming the putter face. Only after the putter face is aimed, THEN square the body to the putter face as aimed and THEN use the physical procedure to assess exactly where the putter face is really aimed. That is, aiming from beside the ball is ONLY checking to see where you have aimed the putter face, and is not really trying to find the target.
If in checking to accurately determine where in fact the putter face has been aimed, the result is that the putter face is aimed exactly at the target as hoped, then you're set to pull the trigger. If not, recycle the targeting in whole or in part as needed.
To do all this, the golfer needs training in use of four physical features: 1) matching the skull line to the putter face aim; 2) gazing straight out of the face; 3) rotating the head on the axis of the neck to move the fixation point of vision along the line of the putter face's aim; and 4) using the "aim spot" of visual fixation in the dominant eye to identify the endpoint of the putter face aim once the head turn has progressed as far as the target. Your specific question really addresses 1) only, but I want to make sure the context of the ensuing discussion is clear.
None of this works correctly unless the golfer aims his eyeballs ("gaze" is the relationship of eyeball am to plane of face or orientation of head) straight out of his face. The eyes need to aim the line of sight onto the ground where the line from tops of ears out pupils also aims:
The "aim spot" of the dominant eye functions like the gunsight on a rifle or the reticule of a rifle scope, and is always located in the same dot of visual experience when gazing straight:
HOW TO SET THE SKULL LINE TO THE AIM OF THE PUTTER FACE
The golfer's visual experience is that of relating the geometry of his skull and both eyes to the putter face as described in terms of edges and surface (the "putter face lines"). This means that the line across the skull defined by the eyes, the bridge of the nose, and the tops of the ears and temples needs to "look and feel" as if it is set perpendicular to the putter face lines. The golfer sort of has to stop looking AT the putter face and instead direct his attention to the shape of his visual experience right near his skull, against the slightly unfocused background of the putter face. Sensing the 'line" across the skull and relating this line visually to the putter face partly implies awareness of the corners of the eyes and how the corners of the visual fields of each eye defines a point on the ground -- one to the left of the putter face and one to the right. Typically, because of the width of the peripheral view when standing at address looking down, these two points on the ground that correspond to the corners of the eyes are about 6 feet down the line towards the target or six feet behind the ball. If the skull line is square, these two points on the ground are ON the intended putt line and are also ON the line of aim of the putter face. (That's only true when the skull line is perpendicular to the putter face lines.)
The golfer usually has a difficult time using reference points on the ground that far away from central vision focused on the putter face directly below the face. What is needed are points below the face that are a lot closer in to the central point of fixation and focus. These points must be such that they coordinate the aim of the putter face with the orientation of the skull and face and eyes. It's a two-step process of first making sure you appreciate where the putter face is aiming, in relation to these points, and then of second making sure the skull line matches the line of these two points and the putter face aim.
Visually, these points can come from the ground, the ball, or the "look" of the putter head. I often find it difficult to locate spots on the ground near the putter face that are exactly on the line of aim of the putter face -- especially two of them, one in front and one behind. Consequently, I rely on finding these two points on the ball and on the putter head. If the putter head has an "aim line" on it that points straight thru the center of the ball along the line of aim of the putter face (not all of them do, such as the Odyssey two-ball, or putters that use a rectangle on the putter or something similar), then this "aim line" points at the back dimple on the equator that is closest to the putter face and also points at the center of the ball and also points at the opposite front dimple on the ball's equator that is nearest the target (where the putter face is actually aimed). Visually, this is a useful collection of points along a line right below the golfer's face near visual fixation -- this line shows where the putter face is actually aimed and allows the golfer to get his skull and eyes matching this line. (If there is not a convenient "aim line" on the putter, then the golfer needs to start with the sense of line thru the ball and work back thru the putter head by inspecting the shape of the putter head and its alignment aids to identify a line back from the putter sweet spot to the rear of the putter head shape, so that this putter line matches the line thru the ball. Often, there is one piece of the putter that is farthest back from the sweetspot that, for symmetry, is on this "thru-the-sweetspot" line of the putter head.)
This image indicates the visual relationship:
When you use a training aid like the Eyeline Trainer, the line on the mirror is used to set both pupils on the line, and this squares the skull and eyes to the putter face aim:
These Golf glasses show the skull line across the face:
Here is the view matching the skull line to the putter face aim:
The ProAim glasses do the same thing in a slightly different manner:
Here is how the line thru the ball at the target must match the aim of the putter face:
Sensing whether the skull and eyes match this line of aim of the putter, as represented by the combined "line" from back of putter or putter aim line thru front of the ball, is probably helped most by either quick eye scans back and forth along this short line or by short head swivels drawing the point of central fixation back and forth along this line. The idea I use most often is to fix the gaze of the dominant eye at the back of the putter and start my head turn down the line, monitoring whether the fixation point crosses the sweetspot of the putter and runs true thru the line of the ball along the putter face's aim, or not. In a way, I am rolling my head in to move the fixation point of vision straight along the ground from the back of the putter head in the direction of the far corner of my left eye (I'm right-handed) straight out thru the front dimple of the ball. In the same way, I am rolling my head to move this fixation point of vision towards the bridge of my nose. The neck rotates the head, but the base of the neck at the shoulder frame does not alter orientation of the shoulder frame and the top of the axis of rotation (cap button on a golf hat) rolls but does not wander.
The two things visually the golfer wants to experience is that the fixation of the dead-straight gaze slides from the rear of the putter straight out the front dimple of the ball truly on the line of aim of the putter face, and that "visual skewing" is not happening. Visual "skewing" is what happens when the skull line twists out of the plane of the putt. If the aim of the putter face is imagined as a line on the ground, the "plane" of the putt is a sheet of plexiglass arising out of this line perpendicularly / vertically to the (flat) plane of the surface. When the rotation of the head is done properly, the two eyes remain in this plane of the putt and the head turn is best analogized to the rotating of a Ferris Wheel. The axis of the Ferris Wheel is the neck axis from base of neck to cap button / top of head. The head is the Ferris Wheel. The two eyes are two separate gondolas on the Ferris Wheel. For a right-hander looking left, the left eye is in front and rides above the following right eye. (If the head-gaze orientation is not vertically down at the ball but has the line of sight slightly tilted out to the ball, then the analogy becomes that of a Tilt-a-Whirl but the geometry is the same.) If the axis of turn "skews" out of plane, it is like a tractor-trailer truck skidding sideways, with the rear eye's sight of the world coming around to catch up with the front eye's sight. It is the difference between holding a 2-inch piece of chalk between the thumb and two fingers against a blackboard with the chalk aligned longwise horizontal to the ground (long edge to the blackboard and not tip to blackboard) -- drawing the chalk straight left along the blackboard makes a single narrow and clear line, but skewing the chalk while you draw the line makes a big, fat, diffuse, broad line. Visually, the absence of skewing gives a "clean" sense of straightness along the ground. When the "look" proceeds straight without skewing, the "channel" of visual experience along the ground has a border of unfocus above and below the channel, and the border stays straight during the head turn.
This view of Jim Flick having turned his head down the line shows the Ferris Wheel relationship of his two eye balls:
There are a number of ways to practice and learn this process for building accurate perceptions of where the putter face aims.
One is to set up above a line on the floor or a string line on the practice green and pay attention to matching the skull line to the line on the ground, and then also practicing a head rotation that keeps the visual experience from skewing astride the line.
Another is to use the rear hand and make a salute just below the two pupils -- this line of the hand makes the skull line visible and allows you to watch how the hand line moves on the ground. Match the hand to the putter face aim and then turn the head.
A third is to square up the head and eyes to a line on the floor or string line and make a small tube with the rear hand (a fist not quite closed) and put this tube up to the dominant eye, look straight out of the face thru the tube onto the line beneath the face, and turn the head so that the line stays inside the tube. (This really teaches the straight gaze and head turn more than squaring the skull line, but they all go together.)
A fourth is to use your left index finger (for a right-eye dominant golfer) and place the last knuckle on the bridge of your nose with the tip extending about 1 inch in to the pupil of the dominant right eye. Set this line of the index finger to match the aim of the putter face, with the tip itself pointed at the back of the putter head, then turn the head so that the line of the finger and tip travel straight along the line on the floor or string line and the tip ends up pointing right dead on the target that the putter face is really aimed at.
A fifth is to lift a putter shaft up across both eyes standing with erect posture and the move the shaft straight away from the face about 1 foot; bend the shaft and head as a unit to look down at the ball just over the top edge of the shaft -- the shaft line indicates how the skull line meets the ground visually. Turn the head and shaft as a unit to the target side and wait to see what arrives just above the shaft's top edge -- that is where the skull line is aimed. Return the head and shaft to look down at the ball -- now the shaft line indicates exactly how to square up the putter face thru the ball so that the putter face truly aims at the target.
There are others.
Tests of thousands of golfers at all levels of skill have shown that well over 90 percent of golfers do not aim the putter face accurately, even from six feet away. These golfers need to see me about this, as there does not appear to be anyone else in golf who teaches accurate assessment of the aim of the putter face.
While some golfers (including some top putters on Tour) can frequently get good results despite their poor aiming skills, whatever compensations they are relying upon to skin the cat are not known to them AND are not used consistently. When they miss, they don't understand what happened visually. So, yes, learning good visual aiming skills is tough, but entirely doable by any adult. And if you don't learn them, you will remain at the mercy of your casual inconsistency.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
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