Everyone knows that you now have 3 minutes to search for your ball, and if it isn’t found within that time it is “lost”. Bit what happens if you are looking for 2 balls (perhaps the original and a provisional or for two different players) in the same area? Surely you have 3 minutes to look for the first ball and another 3 minutes to look for the second one?
Sorry but the answer is “No”. If the expected position of the ball is close enough that you will actually be searching for both of them simultaneously then you only have one 3 minute search period. You would get two separate search periods if the search areas are separated – perhaps on different sides of the fairway – but otherwise both balls would become lost if not found by the end of search period.
Your 3 minute search period begins when you (or your caddy) begin the search. However you must not unduly delay getting to the search area and starting that search. A similar interpretation of “undue delay” would be used to that for when you are due to play your next stroke. For example it would not be OK to stop to admire the wildlife for more than a few moments, but it would be OK to stop and search for another player’s ball for a full 3 minutes while on the way to yours.
Golf Rules Guru 
Hi thanks for the rules update. However this happened yesterday. I hit my first ball which ended up in the trees an the left hand side of the fairway. So I decided to play a provisional which sadly ended up in the rough on the opposite side of the fairway. So as the balls were in totally different parts of the same fairway should I have gotten 3 minutes to search for each ball – they were approx 60 yards apart if not more. As it happens I found my original and played that and one of my playing partners found my provisional as it was close to his ball. So upside I never lost a ball or incurred 3 off the Tee
LikeLike
Did you hit a second provisional and how do you play it?
LikeLike
No found both balls so played the original.
LikeLike
Yes – searching in 2 entirely separate places so 3 minutes search time for each area.
LikeLike