Occasionally I just hit the snot out of the ball but at about 20 degrees left

Ive been working on my swing, and its usually a slight fade, nice high flight. But occasionally (1 in 10), particularly with longer clubs, I will just mash one what seems a bit farther than usual, dead straight left.

So can you list the 293 things that its possible I'm doing wrong? I used to slice quite a bit, and now have worked on making sure I have an inside out path, is it possible I am overdoing it sometime? I mean its straight and far, I wish to hell I could repeat it and I might just aim that way :-)

Thanks. I'll look and feel for that tomorrow at the range

If he's pulling it left that means he has a closed fact to the target line that is square to an out side in path line.

You should try something:

You are obviously swinging outside in. That's no question. You can't really hit a hard, flushed straight pull without that. When you hit a fade, does the ball start left and fade right? As someone who usually hits a fade myself, this is my ball flight when I'm having a bad day. Ideally the fade should go straightish and slightly peel right. If you are coming outside in, over the top, you'll pull it and then it slices back straight.

Anyway, try putting a shaft or an alignment stick through your front belt loops.

Like this: http://www.toursticks.com/template/images/drills/TourSticks/Training_HipAlignment.jpg

If you think you're not over the top, it could be that your hips are a little out of sequence and your hands are behind you. When you take a slow swing, do your hands get stuck behind the stick on the downswing? Mine sometimes do. So what happens with me is, you think you're inside out, because your arms are coming low and inside, but your body has pivoted around too soon, so your arms are kinda flinging through at a different angle.

It's confusing, but this would be an easy way to tell. I was told by my teacher that when you start to get better, you can have issues getting stuck like this with your hands low behind and it causes an over the top to actually hit the ball solidly.

usually my fade starts just a shade right or down the line, and tails off just a bit. So it may still be sometimes outside in like the slice days, but now with more solid contact....I'll try the sticks

hold on are you a lefty?

Weird like a lefty, but hit and throw right :-)

My fade starts just a shade LEFT and drifts maybe 5 yards right. Sorry.

Jack Nicklaus also lined up left of his target line and had a push fade that started left of that line and moved back to it.

But that was Boogie's point.  But your original statement implied that a push-fade was a no-no.  If you are plan for it - like Nicklaus, I believe Lee Trevino as well, and probably others - then it's a perfectly playable ball flight.

OP's problem sounds exactly like my dad's.  He has an OTT swing and pulls and pull-fades everything.  The weird part is he has a nice relaxed very in-to-out practice swing when he takes one.  For the life of me though, I cannot get him to mirror that swing with a ball on the ground.  In 20 years of golfing with him, the only time I have ever seen him hit anything straight or drawing, its started 20 or more degrees left already.  Ugh.

The goal is to get that path out more to the right.  (Don't know how though, I'm not a teacher)

I didn't imply that it was a no-no...I may have just worded what I was trying to say the wrong way.  What I meant was that theres nothing wrong with a pull-fade...its a great shot to hit and theres no need to go and try to change a million things in his swing to "fix it".  Of course, any controlled shot is gonna be good to play with..thats a given.

Turns out I do occasionally revert to out to in, but have the face squared. Happens when I try to swing too hard with longer clubs. So more practice on in to out, and control!