diff --git a/hack/lib/golang.sh b/hack/lib/golang.sh
index 5837a386e34..f6261b9bc7a 100755
--- a/hack/lib/golang.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/golang.sh
@@ -672,7 +672,7 @@ kube::golang::build_binaries() {
       # Only try to generate bindata if the file exists, since in some cases
       # one-off builds of individual directories may exclude some files.
       if [[ -f "${KUBE_ROOT}/${bindata}" ]]; then
-        go "${goflags[@]:+${goflags[@]}}" generate "${KUBE_ROOT}/${bindata}"
+        go generate "${goflags[@]:+${goflags[@]}}" "${KUBE_ROOT}/${bindata}"
       fi
     done