A throw with no run-up at all, driven only by stance and upper body. The fastest route to straight throws, and the stage that has to work before the X-step.
If your throws are scattering, take the run-up away entirely for one session. The standstill throw strips the movement down to what actually creates speed: reachback, rotation from hips and torso, snap — with no footwork or timing getting in the way. Almost every beginner starts with a full X-step instead, because it looks like the pros. The result is not speed but scatter, plus a trailing rear foot that gives away how the weight never fully arrived at the front. So build it in this order: standstill first, then weight transfer over a firmly planted front foot, and only then one or two approach steps. Here is the surprise: in tournament players, muscle strength does not predict throwing distance at all — sequence and timing do. And it is the honest test: whatever flies crooked here won't fly straighter with a run-up, only crooked faster.