diff --git a/hack/verify-golangci-lint-config.sh b/hack/verify-golangci-lint-config.sh
index 83d11147599..236d3e589e5 100755
--- a/hack/verify-golangci-lint-config.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-golangci-lint-config.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 # This script checks that all generated golangci-lint configurations
-# are up-to-date and the config hack/golangci.yaml is valid.
+# are up-to-date.
 
 set -o errexit
 set -o nounset
@@ -24,9 +24,4 @@ set -o pipefail
 KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/verify-generated.sh"
 
-golangci=("${GOBIN}/golangci-lint")
-golangci_config="${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/golangci.yaml"
-
 kube::verify::generated "" "Please run 'hack/update-golangci-lint-config.sh'" hack/update-golangci-lint-config.sh
-
-"${golangci[@]}" config verify --config="${golangci_config}"
diff --git a/hack/verify-golangci-lint.sh b/hack/verify-golangci-lint.sh
index 72d8a9382ef..d0d47f0c6fa 100755
--- a/hack/verify-golangci-lint.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-golangci-lint.sh
@@ -129,6 +129,22 @@ if [ "${golangci_config}" ]; then
   GOTOOLCHAIN="$(kube::golang::hack_tools_gotoolchain)" go -C "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/tools" build -o "${GOBIN}/logcheck.so" -buildmode=plugin sigs.k8s.io/logtools/logcheck/plugin
 fi
 
+# Verify that the given config is valid. "golangci-lint run" does not
+# do that, which makes it easy to miss mistakes while editing the configuration.
+if ! failures=$( ${GOBIN}/golangci-lint config verify --config="${golangci_config:-}" 2>&1 ); then
+  cat >&2 <<EOF
+
+Verification of the configuration failed. Command:
+
+   ${GOBIN}/golangci-lint config verify --config="${golangci_config:-}")
+
+Result:
+
+$failures
+EOF
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 if [ "${golangci_config}" ]; then
   # The relative path to _output/local/bin only works if that actually is the
   # GOBIN. If not, then we have to make a temporary copy of the config and