"a long putt"

[imchongjun]

Hi, teachers.
I am not quite sure what "a long putt" means in the following quotatio:

"Your argument is a whole succession of non sequiturs," said Jerry, stimulated by the cider to unusual brilliance.
"That's a long putt," chuckled Benson, the dealer in rare books and first editions.
"What I mean is this," said Jerry.

I have thought that "a long putt" is used to mean something like "trying to do a difficult thing", but the phrase in the above passage seems to mean something different. Could you explain?

Thank you.

[ponpoco256]

Have you ever played golf? When you are trying to roll a golf ball to the hole at a long distance from the place you are now, we say you are making "a long putt". Here "a long putt" is used figuratively (or metaphorically) to criticize the way of Meredith's discussion that the conclusion (=the hole) is too far from the premise (=the place the ball starts rolling).

ponpoco