You can do a lot of things to learn how to play golf, however as someone who has been playing and working at getting better every year, I truly believe the following are the best things you can do:

1) Take Lessons. They're not cheap but they are more than worth it if you expect to be a decent player.

2) Practice. Taking lessons won't help if you don't go to the range and work on the things you learn. Also keep in mind the reason the average golfer can't break 90 is because he/she thinks the driver is the most important club in the bag. Wrong. Go to any driving range and I guarantee you more than 90% of the people are working on hitting their driver. Your putter and short irons (Sand & Pitching Wedges, 9-iron, 8-iron) are the most important clubs in your bag. It's a fact that more than 50% of shots in a round of golf happen from 100 yards and in. Think about it. The average course has a combination of 14 par 4's and par 5's and 4 par 3's; therefore your driver will account for 14 strokes. Assuming you average two-putts on every green, your putter alone will account for 36 strokes.

3) Become very good with your short game. I love hitting a drive 250 yards straight down the middle. However I know getting "up and down" is the key to producing a good golf score. If Tiger Woods, the number 1 ranked player in the world, misses the green on average 30% of time guess how many greens you'll miss in a round of golf?

4) Read any book by Dr. Bob Rotella. Dr. Rotella is a sports psychologist who works with some of the games top players including Davis Love III, Brad Faxon and Tom Kite. All of his books focus on the mental approach and the short game.

5) Don't let your ego prevent you from playing conservative. It may seem boring and the other players in your group may give you a hard time, but I promise you at the end of the round you'll be the one collecting money.

Learn more about this author, Tony Foster.
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