Wareham High School will see a familiar face on the golf team this year, as Wareham Middle School gym teacher Chris Perry takes on the role of head coach.

Perry said he has been playing golf since high school, and that he is “thrilled” to be the new coach.

“I happened to see the posting, and I was like, ‘Oh, awesome!’” Perry said. “That was my next thing – I wanted to coach golf at the high school level.”

Perry is seeking to increase the team size by a few players, because “golf isn’t really a big sport in Wareham,” but he thinks it offers a different, valuable kind of team experience for students who aren’t interested in high school sports like football or baseball.

“It's individual, but it's also a team sport,” Perry said. “Everybody gets to play, everybody gets to practice.”

Perry said anyone can come out for the team, and that students who are interested in trying out golf, but have never played before can expect a lot of one-on-one coaching.

“If they see it on TV, and say they want to try that – this is their chance to come out and play, and do something new,” Perry said. “I was teaching these kids to play golf [at the middle school]. The next step is seeing kids … start participating … in golf at the high school level.”

Perry said he enjoys the one-on-one coaching nature of the sport, because “you can look for improvement immediately.”

“You watch the kid practice, and if you see a flaw in the swing, you want to help them correct it now, at a young age,” Perry said. “You can actually see him or her make that correction the next time they take a shot.”