Everyone knows that you get three minutes to find your golf ball. What if you find it, and then after waiting for another player to play, you can't find it again? Do you get another three minutes?
This was a hypothetical, but I have had this happen in the past. My ball was in some pretty thick rough, so I left my hat near it while I went to the cart to get a club. If I hadn't left my hat, I think it would have been tough to find again.
A clarification on Rule #18.2 here (18.2a(1)/1) indicates that the clock was only suspended while you were getting a club (bullet point #4). So if it took you two minutes to find the ball the first time, then you only get one minute to find it the second time.
Ouch. So that's stroke and distance. So you should definitely do the hat thing.
