I've had the same problem. Dry soil pulls away from the edge of pot and when watering some water runs straight down that space and drains right out. When I plant now I compact the top edge of soil up around the edge of the pot, slope from there down an inch or two, then a small mound around the plant stalk itself. When I water this way the water sits in a circle around the plant as it drains into the soil. The mound around the plant stalk keeps the stalk from sitting in wet soil for long and the mound around the outside of pot is high enough not to let the water run down the sides of the pot.
Plus I build a small hill for the plant before putting it in the pot. Sorta like a moat around a castle. I like to use Dr. Earth POTting soil. They ran out of it at the nursery where I buy the Dr E so I got some Happy Frog Ocean Forest. Gonna do a side by side of Dr E PS & Ocean Forest when it's time to put my Dank Delight in their final grow pots. DD is a strain that I call Nature Made or Wild Child because I got a lot of sneaky males & I don't know which strains got to my gals. That kind of polenatin is called Farm Line. She is heavy on the Indica side, I can tell by the leaves. She is not an auto, I don't have any growing yet. I will soon though. 
i noticed it also helps save water if you spray really lightly and mix the dry soil with the wet soil.
