Course a little short for its country’s patron (2,6)
I believe the answer is:
st andrew
'patron' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Patron of Scotland ' mean 'st andrew' so perhaps 'patron' could also mean 'st andrew')
'course a little short' is the wordplay.
'course' becomes 'St Andrews' (Scottish golf course).
'a little short' means to remove the last letter.
'standrews' with its final letter taken away is 'ST ANDREW'.
'for its country's' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for st andrew that I've seen before include "Patron of Scotland" , "Apostle" , "Scotland's patron saint" , "Christian icon" .)