Most people are familiar with golf and at least understand the basics of how it is played. If not turn on the television any weekend and you will certainly be able to watch a tournament which should give you a good idea of how the game is played. Although most people are familiar with golf there is a lot that you have to learn if you are going to start playing the game.
The basics of golf are pretty simple; you are trying to get the ball into the hole by hitting it with a club in as few shots as possible. The actual rules of the game are very complicated however. That being said when you are first learning to play the game it is probably not necessary to worry too much about following the rules strictly. The rule of thumb when you are playing golf is that whenever possible you should play your ball where it lands. The rules start to get complicated when the obstacles make it impossible to play the ball.
While golf is a fairly simple game becoming good at it is not. There are two distinct parts of golf, the approach play and putting. The approach play is the part where you are trying to get the ball on the green which will cover about ninety percent of the course. Putting is what you do once you are on the green to get the ball in the hole. Although this represents just a small part of the golf course you will probably require more strokes when putting than you do to get from the tee to the green. If you want to improve your golf game you are going to want to work on improving both your putting and your approach play by working on swing.
While you can be fairly flexible with the rules of golf while you are learning to play there is another set of rules that you have to make sure that you understand and follow. These are the rules of golf etiquette. These are the rules that are intended to ensure that everybody on the course is able to enjoy their round. Make sure that you learn these rules and that you follow them at all times, most clubs are pretty strict about enforcing them.
While you can certainly learn a lot about golf by reading about it and watching others play. However if you really want to learn the game you are going to have to get out there and play. Don't worry about looking bad if you are not a good player, there will be plenty of other people out there who are no better than you are. The more you play the better you will get and the more you will start to enjoy the game.