diff --git a/go/arrow/rle/rle_utils.go b/go/arrow/rle/rle_utils.go
index da51d49262301..2c72c69ac5069 100644
--- a/go/arrow/rle/rle_utils.go
+++ b/go/arrow/rle/rle_utils.go
@@ -24,13 +24,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 func FindPhysicalOffset(arr arrow.ArrayData) int {
-	if arr.Len() == 0 {
-		return 0
-	}
-
 	data := arr.Children()[0]
 	logicalOffset := arr.Offset()
 
+	if data.Len() == 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+
 	switch data.DataType().ID() {
 	case arrow.INT16:
 		runEnds := arrow.Int16Traits.CastFromBytes(data.Buffers()[1].Bytes())