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Pelz (2000) in his book Dave Pelz's Putting Bible described the problem (p 66):
"Any golfer whose eyes are not consistently vertically above his aim line will have to change his view of alignment due to the changing angles he sees for putts of different lengths. The results is inconsistent alignment. The only way to align the putter face properly time after time is by positioning both eyes exactly vertically above the aim line so that the alignment angle is always zero degrees for all putts, regardless of length."
"..realize that aim is an essential fundamental of putting, a learned skill you have probably learned incorrectly (without knowing it) based on the results of past putting strokes and the positioning of your eyes."
Here are several methods that can be used to avoid this alignment problem
1) The best time is at time you're testing a new putter and it's best that it be professionally fitted so you have a putter with the lie angle and shaft length that fit your posture. As a part of the fitting process, your eyes should be checked to see if they are directly over the aim line. Unfortunately this is not part of the normally fitting routine but left up to the customer to do it for themselves which typically is not done (as an example of misalignment see attached).
2) Buy devices which include mirrored surfaces. D. Pelz recommends Elk's Key which he designed primarily to check shoulder alignment with the aim line while addressing ball. Eye alignment can also be checked at the same time.
3) Use a mirrored surface that’s convenient to check alignment. I've found that using any CD works just fine. Place the CD with mirrored surface up on a carpet at home (or on the practice green) with the ball at its center. Now, pick a distance point to align to and then get aligned with respect to the ball and then see if you see your eyes are in correct alignment with the aim line and ball as seen on the CD surface.
"Any golfer whose eyes are not consistently vertically above his aim line will have to change his view of alignment due to the changing angles he sees for putts of different lengths. The results is inconsistent alignment. The only way to align the putter face properly time after time is by positioning both eyes exactly vertically above the aim line so that the alignment angle is always zero degrees for all putts, regardless of length."
"..realize that aim is an essential fundamental of putting, a learned skill you have probably learned incorrectly (without knowing it) based on the results of past putting strokes and the positioning of your eyes."
Here are several methods that can be used to avoid this alignment problem
1) The best time is at time you're testing a new putter and it's best that it be professionally fitted so you have a putter with the lie angle and shaft length that fit your posture. As a part of the fitting process, your eyes should be checked to see if they are directly over the aim line. Unfortunately this is not part of the normally fitting routine but left up to the customer to do it for themselves which typically is not done (as an example of misalignment see attached).
2) Buy devices which include mirrored surfaces. D. Pelz recommends Elk's Key which he designed primarily to check shoulder alignment with the aim line while addressing ball. Eye alignment can also be checked at the same time.
3) Use a mirrored surface that’s convenient to check alignment. I've found that using any CD works just fine. Place the CD with mirrored surface up on a carpet at home (or on the practice green) with the ball at its center. Now, pick a distance point to align to and then get aligned with respect to the ball and then see if you see your eyes are in correct alignment with the aim line and ball as seen on the CD surface.