diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 4eab152bd6..823d7171ca 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ jobs:
         with:
           github-token: ${{ secrets.ELEVATED_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           no-restore: true # don't download them on a cache hit
-      # control checking out head instead of base ref by a GH label
-      # if checkout-head label is added to a PR, checkout HEAD otherwise checkout base_ref
+      # control checking out head instead of default ref by a GH label
+      # if checkout-head label is added to a PR, checkout HEAD otherwise checkout ref
       - if: ${{ !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'checkout-head') }}
         run: echo "CHECKOUT_REF=${{ github.ref }}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - if: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'checkout-head') }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-go.yml b/.github/workflows/test-go.yml
index a5f3e5009d..34f6cccc32 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-go.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-go.yml
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ on:
       checkout-ref:
         description: The ref to use for checkout.
         required: false
-        default: ${{ github.base_ref }}
+        default: ${{ github.ref }}
         type: string
 
 env: ${{ fromJSON(inputs.env-vars) }}