Beginning without skill is a pain (5)
I believe the answer is:
sting
'pain' is the definition.
(sting is a kind of pain)
'beginning without skill' is the wordplay.
'beginning' becomes 'starting' ('start' can be a synonym of 'begin').
'without' is a deletion indicator.
'skill' becomes 'art' (I've seen this before).
'starting' with 'art' taken out is 'STING'.
'is a' is the link.
(Other definitions for sting that I've seen before include "English musician, b. 1951 -- a sudden pain" , "Bee's weapon" , "viz. Gordon Sumner" , "Tingle sharply" , "The pain caused by bee or nettle" .)