Surrey town getting head start in a rough game (5)
I believe the answer is:
egham
'surrey town' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'head start in a rough game' is the wordplay.
'start' indicates taking the first letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a rough' indicates anagramming the letters.
The first letter of 'head' is 'h'.
'game' anagrammed gives 'egam'.
'h' put into 'egam' is 'EGHAM'.
'getting' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for egham that I've seen before include "Somewhere in Surrey" , "Surrey town near Runnymede" , "Thames-side town" .)