If drainage is an issue, why not make two raised beds for your garlic? Trench the middle and two sides, put the soil on top of the beds and rake it level. Doesn't have to be raised much to improve the drainage. If it's not drainage related, just a good moisture retention in the soil, I would think you could plant at a slightly higher density and they would take it up happily.
Recent reading from a Quebec site:
"Throughout the growing season, garlic will need 1 inch of water per week. Stop watering 2 weeks prior to harvest... We have observed that watering is a more important factor than fertilization as far as yield is concerned. In a well-drained clay soil, water is better conserved and watering is less critical than in sandy soil."
After some helpful discussion about spacing, I just planted a 44 inchX8foot bed with rows spaced at 8 inches (11 rows across) and 7 or 8 cloves per row, alternating 6 inch and 5 inch spacing between cloves. Total for that bed 82 garlic. So your two beds should be room enough to plant around 160 cloves.
There's no reason for row spacing wider than 8 inches unless it's to accomodate farm machines or else a dry field situation where you don't intend to water, wider spacing makes sure they don't compete with each other for water that may be scarce. And 5 inches between bulbs is the minimum for big bulbed varieties like porcelains. 6 inches about standard, even for commercial operations - with row spacing that varies from 9 inches to 20 inches, depending on equipment used in the field.
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