Salary
Average Salary: $18,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $751,464
The vast majority of greenskeepers leave the profession rich...in garbage bags of lawn shavings. Sure, that may not mean much now, but you never know—a post-apocalyptic society could surprise you by declaring the dollar dead and outlining a plan to reinvigorate the economy with a currency of grass clippings.
Given that it'll likely be some stretch of time before such an economy takes root, current greenskeepers will need to be happy with their current average wage, which is approximately nine dollars per hour (source). It might not sound like much, but at least it's more than the twenty bucks you used to get from your neighbor to mow his lawn. Oh, wait, it's probably about the same amount. Well, at least it's more consistent.
With that sort of salary, you shouldn't really be considering this job to be a lifetime career. Even the top ten percent of earners in the industry are only just hitting fifteen dollars per hour (source). Still, there's more to life than money—and you'd do yourself a favor to earnestly believe that cliché if you're planning to mow grass for a living.