To play golf, the first thing you need is a set of clubs. I will echo iandotkelly; used clubs are the beginner's best friend. People get rid of clubs all the time, either because they bought new ones or because they've had enough and are giving up the game. Look for local garage sales, check bulletin boards at local public courses, take a look at the 'List or the 'Bay, and check the "pre-owned" racks at local golf stores (Golfsmith deals heavily in used clubs from trade-ins at local stores). Judging by what I've seen, you should be able to put together a good set of clubs with bag for about $300 if you buy used clubs from a retailer. If you luck out at a garage sale or Craigslist listing, you could walk away with a full set of nice clubs for $25-$50 if the guy just wants to be rid of them. Contrasting that, buying a full set in a bag from a reputable brand like Adams or Macgregor will start at $500, and buying new components separately (driver, woods, iron set, wedges and putter) can easily run you over a grand. Don't do that until you know what you want in a set of clubs to fit your game (and are rich/interested enough to justify it).

When assembling your clubs, the minimum you will want is a driver, 3-wood, a numbered iron set (typically from 3 or 4 through pitching wedge), a sand wedge and a putter. That's 11 to 12 clubs and will allow you to play from pretty much any lie. Once you identify the types of clubs you use best, or situations in which you don't have a good club for the job, you can add two or three clubs and look at replacing clubs in order to play to your strengths or fill in the gaps. Common additions are a 5-wood, for fairway shots where you'd normally use a hard-to-hit long iron; hybrids to replace long irons; and additional wedges to dial in the right distance in your short game.

Things to look for in your first set of clubs:

Cavity-back irons . These irons will remove material from the middle of the clubhead, and instead place most of it low and rearward, and the rest around the perimeter of the clubhead. This design is favored by the casual player because it is more forgiving of slight mis-hits (it can be said to have a larger "sweet spot"). Ten to fifteen years ago, these designs were brand new and the used market was full of the older, less forgiving "muscle-back" designs as golfers traded up. Now, these cavity designs are plentiful in the secondhand market, and honestly, this was the last real quantum leap in clubhead design, so you won't lose much technology-wise going used.

Regular flex on graphite shafts . The used market is littered with clubs bought by people who thought the club made the golfer, and so went for stiff-shaft, 9.5*-loft drivers because that's the club their favorite tour pro uses, then got rid of it because they could only hit 200-yard worm-burners. The majority of golfers will get the best performance out of a 10.5*, regular-flex driver configuration, and regular flexes on any other graphite shafts in their club set (virtually all woods have graphite shafts; they're also common on hybrids. Graphite vs steel on the long irons is a personal preference, but virtually all short irons and wedges are steel-shafted for consistency). These configurations, because they do work well for the average golfer, are rarer than the outliers on used racks, but you can usually find a few good candidates.

A slight draw bias on the driver . Again, a lot of players want the best and so they buy a driver labelled "tour" because they think they're getting the best quality. What they don't realize is that a Tour driver has either no bias, or a slight fade bias to correct for clubhead torquing with their stronger swing. In the hands of a casual golfer, a driver like this will probably push-slice uncontrollably. Most golfers, again, benefit from using a "game improvement" driver (typically marketed as just a regular driver), which has a slight 1-2* bias toward closing the face of the club, to compensate for the natural tendency to open the clubface when you just "grip it and rip it". However, avoid "max game improvement" or "draw" drivers; these have an extreme draw bias, up to 5* towards closed, and are intended for people who just can't stop slicing their driver and are unable or unwilling to change their swing. Learn how to swing a "regular" driver straight, and you'll minimize bad habits.

A good putter. If there's one club that you should buy new for your first set, it's your putter. The pros drive for show, but putt for dough; putting is a high-precision, high-finesse aspect of golf, and it's where you make or break pars and birdies. So, you'll want a putter that feels good in your hands, that you can swing with the proper tempo and in line. Good, late-model used putters don't tend to hit the racks as often as other clubs (players will take their time looking for the right putter, and will stick with it for a very long time), and when they do they're snapped up quickly, but keep an eye out. There are dozens of designs of putter, all varying subtly in weight distribution, hosel/shaft positioning, visual cues, etc which can make one putter better than another for you. Learning to putt well is frustrating as it is; the last thing you want to do is have to compensate for a putter that feels "wrong", or is out of alignment. Any inaccuracy in putting should be all you, so you know what to fix.

You will likely also want a glove for your "leading hand"; whichever hand is closer to the butt end of the grip (for a right-hander this will be your left hand). This glove will allow you to get a better grip on the club and will avoid blisters.

Lastly, you'll want comfortable clothing that doesn't restrict movement. Golf attire is traditionally unfashionable, and even modern stuff can sometimes be a little out there, but there's good stuff too; while you can buy specialized clothing, all you really need is a polo shirt and a pair of casual-wear khaki shorts or slacks (not dress slacks) that fit you well and allow free range of motion. A lot of brands are touting "moisture-wicking synthetics" for athletic wear that breathe well and keep you dry, but I know plenty of players that swear by a good ol' 100% cotton polo. Your choice; down here in Texas, hot is hot, and color is more important than fabric.

Once you have the equipment, you'll probably want a lesson. Check your local driving ranges for a "group lesson", or if you have some money to spend, get a private lesson. If you have absolutely zero money, or just want to try learning yourself, there are many online resources from Youtube vids to blog posts about everything having to do with the golf swing. As much as the pros say it's an easy, natural movement, the golf swing is a very complex motion, and as golf is a precision sport, small changes can have big impacts. Having a coach look at your own individual swing and correct the things you're doing wrong will help you, but you may just want to go out and hit a bucket before calling in the coach, so you can get a feel for your new clubs.

Before you hit the links, you should be able to hit every club in your bag straight enough that people on the path won't be cowering behind their carts, and consistently enough that you can predict where it will fly and compensate for any inherent push, pull, draw or fade in the flight path of your ball. You should also be making good contact with the ball with every swing (no whiffs, tops, thin or fat shots). This will allow you to put the ball where you want it on the course and avoid the 20-yard walk of shame from the tee box after topping your drive.

And don't forget your putter; remember that par is based on 2 putts, for good reason, and so for a typical par-72 course, fully half of those strokes will be putts if you know what you're doing. Lots of driving ranges and courses have chipping and putting greens, but you may have to pay more to use them. A game or three of miniature golf can help with getting a good putting line, but it can also hurt; miniature golf uses artificial turf and artificial terrain slopes, which generally make for "fast" putts and relatively easy-to-read shots; a real putting green will have less even grass, a "grain" inherent in the way the grass grows, and a slope (and natural variations thereof) to its surface which will make putts break, and a good short-game player must learn to read these elements and adjust their putting line.

If you watch the pros play, you'll notice their secret; putt with exactly the strength needed to get to the hole, so that if you don't put it in the hole it's right there for the tap-in instead of a "knee-knocker" (close enough that you're expected to hole it, but far enough to miss). Practice doing this; putt towards the hole from varying distances, and work on getting the ball within a foot of the cup (if it goes in from 10 feet, great; if it doesn't you have an easy second putt). There are many techniques for getting the proper putting power; the two most common are a pendulum swing (vary the backswing by the amount of power you need, and then simply relax and let the putter fall through the arc) and a "power putt" (take a short backswing, then add the proper power from your trailing hand into and through the ball). These both take a lot of practice.

You will also want the following for a round of 18 holes of real golf: