The coherence length defines a distance over which if you know (or control!) the phase at location A the phase at location B is no longer related to the known phase at location A. The phase at location B wanders with respect to the phase at location A and averaging over a short time B goes through all possibilities. So at any given moment the difference in phase between point A and point B is random. Well, technically the coherence length is defined at a location where the phase isn’t quite yet completely uncorrelated but it’s getting there.
So, if you hold the phase of laser X constant relative to the phase of laser Y, but then you combine them at a point where their path lengths have differed by more than a coherence length, then their phases will no longer have a fixed relation. They aren’t coherent, and you won’t get the beam quality expected of coherent beam combining.
NOTE: it is the path length DIFFERENCE that matters. You can combine them a zillion km away from the control point so long as they have the same path length.