Due to the long history of defeats that Mike and Gary had suffered at the hands of Lee and Vaughn, they make a commitment to pull out all the stops and emerge with a victory. The match begins without incident for Mike and Gary, which is almost unheard of for those two and progresses with each team playing pretty well and being even after hole 7. However, at the green on the 8th hole, with about a 4 foot putt for birdie, Mike turns to his partner Gary and exclaims,
"Summon the GOLDEN BALL!"
Immediately, Gary drops his putter, and scurries over to the cart, puts on his construction helmet, grabs his level and a beautiful mahogany box, and scampers back to the green.
Mike then says, "Gary, please record the date and time in the golden log." Gary opens the mahogany box to reveal the golden ball and its official logbook. In the golden log there is a record of every single date and time that the golden ball has been used and the results. In 22 entries over 4 years time the golden ball has never missed. This is the power of the golden ball and the one thing that might give Gary and Mike the edge they will need to claim victory.

Gary carefully places the Golden Ball on the green, then begins to measure the slope and length of the putt.
"The slope is 6 degrees to the right and exactly 51 inches long" he announces. Mike studies the putt intensely. Then with sweat pouring off his brow, he strikes the ball. It gently rolls towards the hole, breaks down to the right and into the cup. The Golden Ball’s streak is alive and the team gains a one stroke lead on Lee and Vaughn. Mike carefully removes the Golden Ball from the cup much like a bomb tech removes uranium from a nuclear warhead. He then gently returns the Golden Ball to it’s cushioned nest inside its mahogany chest. Gary gleefully elevates their prize ball as if it were the Stanley Cup and begins to parade it in front of the opposing team taunting them on his way back to their cart.

About this time, Vaughn, still a little upset about the whole big production with the golden ball, begins to plot. He realizes that the best way to ensure victory is to level the playing field by stealing the Golden Ball. Plus he wants to steal it out of spite, which helps too. So he quietly whispers to Lee,
"We need to steal their precious Golden Ball; that will shut them up."

As the match progresses, he notices on a couple occasions that the other twosome has left the Golden Ball unattended in their golf cart. Mike manages to catch their error a couple of times, and scolds Gary like a little child for just leaving the Golden Ball unattended and out in plain sight. Then on hole 13 with Vaughn’s team down by one stroke, Mike and Gary again leave their cart unattended. Vaughn knows that the window of opportunity is now open, so he tells Lee, the more agile and less noticeable of the two, to go steal the Golden Ball while he distracts the other two players.

So Lee manages to slip out unnoticed and grabs the mahogany box containing the golden ball while the other two are distracted. Surprisingly, however, play continues for another 2 holes before either Gary or Mike ever notice that the golden ball is gone. Finally, Mike notices and interrogates Gary as to the whereabouts of the Golden Ball. Almost in tears, Gary says he has no idea what happened to the ball and that Vaughn might know. Of course, Vaughn being content with the knowledge that his plan has succeeded in throwing off the focus of his opponents, decides that he will gloat and show off his new found prize.

He opens the mahogany box for all to see. However, the ball is gone and in the cushioned area where the Golden Ball should have been is a simple note. Vaughn opens the note and reads aloud "Nice try, you ball thieving JACKASSES!" He then looks up to discover the other twosome, with GoldenBball in hand, laughing hysterically. He fell victim to their embarrassing trap and suffered dearly.
They had lost composure and more importantly lost the match to Vaughn’s younger brothers, a fate feared worse than death by every eldest child. For the remaining holes, the normally focused and dominant team clearly was not on it’s ‘A’ game. Instead of "being the ball" and visualizing their shots, all they could visualize was a giant Vegas sign brightly flashing as if to taunt them: "Nice Try, You Ball Thieving JACKASSES!"