You're Correct!

One of the most basic and most overlooked fundamentals of golf is taking your aim. Not only will overlooking this area see you hit more of your shots off line, when it comes to putting, the chances of your holing any putts will be dramatically reduced.

One of the biggest problems in taking your aim with your putter is that your body and the face of your putter are looking in different directions. Most of the time your putter face will be aiming in the right place and its the body that is your biggest problem, especially when the arms and shoulders swing the putter.

The only way to ensure that you are aligned correctly with both your body and your putter face is to approach the ball from a position that is 90 degrees to your aim line. To get your aim accurate on a consistent basis, practise taking your set up in the following way:

Find a straight putt of around six feet on the practice putting green. Take a tee peg and place it level with the hole 18 inches on the low side of your putt (left for a right handed golfer). Take your set up to an imaginary ball from directly below your ball as if you were going to hit it to the tee peg. Make sure that your body is aiming left of the tee and your putter face is looking towards the tee when you make your practice stroke.
Now from this position you should be making your practise stroke at a 90 degree angle to the line of your putt. You need to step into your ball from this angle, firstly aiming your putter face at the hole and then your feet to the tee. From here, your body aim and your putter face aim will be parallel and you will be able to start your putt on the aim line you selected.

Whenever you putt, whether youre practising or during a round, if you take your set up position in this way you will improve this once overlooked fundamental and give yourself a chance of holing your putts.

Pointing your putter face at the hole is only one area of the set up that you must get right if you want to hole more putts. If your shoulders, forearms, hips, knees and feet are not parallel to the aim line of your putt then you will have to make a compensatory move within your stroke to hit your putts on target.

Moving your ball position around within your stance will have a knock on effect on your aim. If your ball is further forward in your stance, you will see your ball start to the left of your aim line as the putter face closes in the follow through. Playing the ball further back would see the ball start right of your aim line as the face is still slightly open.

The biggest issue with this is when you move around to make your practise putting stroke, you will be practising with the putter face looking at the hole, so when you step into the set up position, your body, especially your feet, will be looking across the line of your putt and you will subconsciously try to pull the ball back towards your aim line.