Give dad a rousing start as a matter of course (3)
I believe the answer is:
par
'a matter of course' is the definition.
I know that 'course' relates to this answer. I also know that both the answer and definition are singular nouns
'give dad a rousing start' is the wordplay.
'give' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'dad' becomes 'pa' (both can mean one's father).
'start' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'rousing' is 'r'.
'pa'+'r' is 'PAR'.
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for par that I've seen before include "What is normal - . . . for the course" , "A number of golfing" , "Standard number of strokes for a golf-hole" , "Rating of strokes required for hole (golf)" , "standard for course" .)