diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index bd8af60..3613084 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout source code
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
-      - name: Check license
-        run: make license-check
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@v3
         with:
           go-version-file: .go_version
+      - name: Check license
+        run: make license-check
       - name: Build and Check for changes
         run: make check
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d39db00..e7ed5c0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 # Check if this GO tools version used is at least the version of go specified in
 # the go.mod file. The version in go.mod should be in sync with other repos.
 GO_VERSION := $(shell go version | awk '{print substr($$3, 3, 10)}')
-MOD_VERSION := $(shell awk '/^go/ {print $$2}' go.mod)
+MOD_VERSION := $(shell cat .go_version) 
 
 GM := $(word 1,$(subst ., ,$(GO_VERSION)))
 MM := $(word 1,$(subst ., ,$(MOD_VERSION)))