diff --git a/hack/tools/go.mod b/hack/tools/go.mod
index 4bd402cd3559..e655fa7e5c54 100644
--- a/hack/tools/go.mod
+++ b/hack/tools/go.mod
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@ require (
 	sigs.k8s.io/yaml v1.4.0
 )
 
-require github.com/google/go-github/v58 v58.0.0 // indirect
-
 require (
 	cloud.google.com/go v0.112.0 // indirect
 	cloud.google.com/go/compute v1.23.4 // indirect
@@ -85,6 +83,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/google/cel-go v0.17.7 // indirect
 	github.com/google/gnostic-models v0.6.9-0.20230804172637-c7be7c783f49 // indirect
 	github.com/google/go-github/v53 v53.2.0 // indirect
+	github.com/google/go-github/v58 v58.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/google/go-querystring v1.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/google/gofuzz v1.2.0 // indirect
 	github.com/google/s2a-go v0.1.7 // indirect
diff --git a/hack/tools/release/notes/main.go b/hack/tools/release/notes/main.go
index 819ad6d3e5c7..711336cbc1b5 100644
--- a/hack/tools/release/notes/main.go
+++ b/hack/tools/release/notes/main.go
@@ -182,11 +182,7 @@ func computeConfigDefaults(config *notesCmdConfig) error {
 	}
 
 	if config.toRef == "" {
-		if newTag.Patch == 0 {
-			config.toRef = release.TagsPrefix + fmt.Sprintf("v%d.%d.0", newTag.Major, newTag.Minor)
-		} else {
-			config.toRef = release.TagsPrefix + fmt.Sprintf("v%d.%d.%d", newTag.Major, newTag.Minor, newTag.Patch)
-		}
+		config.toRef = "heads/" + config.branch
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/hack/tools/release/notes/print.go b/hack/tools/release/notes/print.go
index afa8bde9c743..2c0a4affbe83 100644
--- a/hack/tools/release/notes/print.go
+++ b/hack/tools/release/notes/print.go
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func newReleaseNotesPrinter(repo, fromTag string) *releaseNotesPrinter {
 }
 
 // print outputs to stdout the release notes.
-func (p *releaseNotesPrinter) print(entries []notesEntry, commitCount int, dependencies string) {
+func (p *releaseNotesPrinter) print(entries []notesEntry, commitsInRelease int, dependencies string) {
 	merges := map[string][]string{
 		release.Features:      {},
 		release.Bugs:          {},
@@ -109,10 +109,10 @@ REPLACE ME: A couple sentences describing the deprecation, including links to do
 	fmt.Printf("## Changes since %s\n", p.fromTag)
 
 	fmt.Printf("## :chart_with_upwards_trend: Overview\n")
-	if commitCount == 1 {
+	if commitsInRelease == 1 {
 		fmt.Println("- 1 new commit merged")
-	} else if commitCount > 1 {
-		fmt.Printf("- %d new commits merged\n", commitCount)
+	} else if commitsInRelease > 1 {
+		fmt.Printf("- %d new commits merged\n", commitsInRelease)
 	}
 	if count := len(merges[release.Warning]); count == 1 {
 		fmt.Println("- 1 breaking change :warning:")