The right elbow and right hip have to work together to hit the ball consistently. This does not just apply to golf. Think of a tennis player hitting a ground stroke, a quarterback throwing a ball or a baseball player throwing a ball. The right hip starts to move towards the target before the right arm moves forward. This can be difficult to think about but if you stand up and make a few practice throws without a ball you will notice that the right hip should naturally move before the arms start to move.
This not only provides power but also helps keep the club more stable through impact. If your hip does not move first to start the down swing you will have a tendency to block shots right for poor players and hook the ball badly for better players.
Think of putting a bungee cord on your belt loop nearest to your right hip. Then imagine surgically attaching that bungee cord to your right elbow. The cord will be nearly slack at the set up position. It will then stretch on the back swing. The tension on the cord will increase on the back swing helping to pull the elbow towards the hip as the hip starts the downswing.
Try to work on getting the right hip and elbow aligned at impact next time you go to the range. Odd are you will have to feel like the hip move much earlier than the arms. The arms have less mass than the hip so they move faster. So get the relation ship and hit balls trying to hit your right hip with your elbow at impact.
