Cowl flaps are worth a couple of kts per position, I’ve found, and I don’t remember mentioning “ignore your CHT” - and I wasn’t being totally serious about shutting the enigne off 
as I said, if you’re having problems, slow down and get some draggy equipment ( gear, flaps - just flaps is usually plenty ) out before you start go down. Dishing the props should probably do a little more than it does.
Don’t chop throttles - that one is probably a source of trouble for jet pilots coming over.