Punch Elbow and Pitch elbow are positions of the elbow in the downstroke.
Punch elbow has the elbow in the downstroke 'behind and to the side' of the right hip on the downswing. Pitch elbow has the elbow 'out in front' of the right hip on the downswing. Hogan is a classic example of using 'pitch elbow.' Hitters tend to use punch elbow.
As far as the right elbow goes on the backswing. The way I looked at it is that on the downswing, the right elbow has to get pretty close to the right rib cage and the right hip, regardless if you are using pitch elbow or punch elbow.
In the backswing, that's a different story. Guys like Couples and Nicklaus and countless others had the right elbow quite aways away from the right rib cage. Guys like Hogan had it pretty close to the right rib cage at the top of the swing.
I used to be more of the Nicklaus and Couples mode when it came ot the right elbow at the top of the swing. On plane, but no real consistency. Then I started experimenting with keeping the right elbow 'nearby' the rib cage at the top of the swing and saw major improvement in my ballstriking.
I believe it's just a case that the guys like Nicklaus and Couples with the 'flying right elbow' are just very adept to returning that right elbow into a good position, nearby the right rib cage and hip joint time and time again on the downstroke. Guys like myself and Hogan, if we get the right elbow away from the rib cage at the top of the swing, we have a lot of difficulty returning it to a quality position near the rib cage and hip joint on the downswing. So we're better off not letting it get away from the right rib cage to begin with.
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