In article ,
"Peter Dohm" wrote:

In any event, we climbed to a little more than 350 feet before I pulled the
power to idle; and promptly began my turn back tothe runway.

Idle thrust is still quite a bit of applied power.
Instead of pulling the throttle (air), pull the mixture (gas).
This will give you a windmilling prop with all the associated drag.
When you are ready to restore power, push the mixture back in.
Try it and see how your results change.