Gulf vs. Golf

This is connected to something that came up in our 'bull and dull' discussion earlier, about /V/ and /A/ being rounded in the presence of dark /l/. For me, these words are essentially homophones as [gQof] or [gOof]. I can produce a difference, but it's not my natural pronunciation. Are they generally distinguished in other varieties?

"Gulf" and "golf" are distinguished in my speech:

gulf ["gV5f]
golf ["gQ5f]

For me, following /l/ really doesn't induce any allophony at all in my /V/ phoneme - I perceive "gulf" to have the exact same vowel as "cup" or "hut". (I think this conservative treatment of /Vl/ is more common here in the Northeast.)

I normally pronounce "gulf" and "golf" as homophones as ["gQUf], but I can force a distinction so that I realize "gulf" as ["gVMf] even though such is not my natural pronunciation of such.

Well, in the Northwest, they're both usually /gAlf/ (or /gOlf/). In California, I think many people pronounce them differently: golf /gAlf/ and gulf /golf/.

They are homophones for me too like "colt" & "cult". I guess I could force STRUT vowel into "cult" & "gulf" but this would feel definitely off.

>> They are homophones for me too like "colt" & "cult". I guess I could force STRUT vowel into "cult" & "gulf" but this would feel definitely off. <<

Interesting. "colt" /kAlt/ and "cult" /kolt/ do not have the same vowels for me. "Cult" has the same vowel as "difficult" /dIf@kolt/, but not as gulf /gAlf/. Hull /hVl/ and culture /kAltSr=/ are different as well. I wonder if there's a rule for this, or if it's all random?

"Colt"/"cult" & "golf"/"gulf" have the LOT vowel for me: /kOlt/ & /gOlf/. I've either got /@/ or /l=/ (I think it's the latter) as the last vowel in "difficult". It seem that I've got not problem with having the STRUT vowel in syllables with codas consisting of only /l/ so my "hull" is the same as yours (except for accent): /h6l/. However I have /kOl.tS@/ (like you minus the FATHER-BOTHER merger & rhoticity). Rule or randomness: good question.