Make sure your shift rod bushing is installed and in good shape. Then adjust the shifter by loosening the two bolts and tapping the tapping the plate, I think in your case you want to come a little to the left, towards the driver.
There are on-line instructions and tutorials all over the place about how to adjust the VW Beetle shifter, and they're all a little different. It's fiddly but you can usually get it with 15 minutes or a half hour's fiddling.